Venomous Honor
by My Wunderwaffle iz missin
Summary: The Spartan-IV 37th Special Shock Division is responsible for among the most covert operations in the entire UNSC. After what seems to be a simple recon, a team is suddenly caught in the midst of a devious revolution in an important colony. Follow Fireteam Eon, one of the few squads in this secret unit as they battle physical and mental adversities both on and off the battlefield.
1. Prologue

**Hello and welcome to the first installment of Fireteam Eon trilogy. This features a brand new cast of characters that many will leave quite a lasting impression. I have a few other things to say, but I'll put it at the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoy this new series and as always, be sure to drop a review telling me what you think.**

* * *

**Firebase Noble, Reach**

**August 2557**

A boon to Reach's slowly recovering military might; Firebase Noble was the largest installation on the continent of Eposz. Home to many significant amounts of infantry, armor and air force units, the brave men and women inhabiting were responsible for Reach's ground defense. The naval blockades overhead were strengthened and on the ground weapons and intelligence of the enemy had been much improved since the UNSC had fought one of the most valiant battles in human history.

If Reach were to fall to the mighty Covenant again, they'd best be bringing a fleet more powerful than the one before.

Firebase Noble had begun construction the second the Unified Earth Government gave its approval with the consent of safety issues. Remarkably, at the beginning of 2557, the assembly was already a few days ahead of schedule. The resolve to rebuild weighed heavily on the workers, most of them indifferent to overtime shifts. The base was completed in June of 2557 and already rapidly growing in conjunction to neighboring New Alexandria.

The insurrectionists have made their swift return, vowing to resume their war against the so called "imperialistic" UNSC. Now with a rogue Covenant force that had the potential to become threats, it was little rest for the military.

With the unparalleled success of the previously classified Spartan-IIs and the later suicide Spartan-IIIs, the Office of Naval Intelligence activated the Spartan-IV program. This time, consisting of adults willingly who had come from other branches of the Defense Force. In fact, the Spartans were getting their own special forces branch, although significantly smaller than the others, as the augmentation ingredients and MJOLNIR armor were quite pricey, although much more abundant.

Recruitment for the Spartan-IVs were high, a surplus of candidates. Thus some of the first initiates such as Sarah Palmer and Edward Davis had to take some time to instruct the others. Although grueling, the process singled out the ones that were best suited to the program and they were thus accepted.

Palmer only had a slight word of a Firebase Noble based team of Spartans. She had been offered to lead such, but declined, insisting that the _Infinity_ contingent of Spartans seemed much shinier to her career.

Only given slight details should have been a clue, as it was much more secretive and powerful to lead the Spartans based at Noble. Equivalent to the most covert and specialized operations, the group technically did not exist.

Known as the Thirty Seventh Special Shock Division, the few Spartans reporting to this group were all highly specialized, even when picked straight out of boot camp. The 37th specialized in multiple operations where normal forces and even other Spartan squads would most likely fail. In their short history, the success record stretches to nearly every mission. Some of their roles included; special reconnaissance, recovery, counter terrorism, raids, sabotage, black and covert ops, HVI protection and assassinations. Their versatility expanded to limitless possibilities.

To many who were a Spartan, the pinnacle of their record would be serving aboard the UNSC flagship _Infinity_. The 37th remained hidden from most Spartans, a very reputable unit to be part of, but it had a catch.

The commander of the 37th established the new law that set the unit apart from most others. All Spartans operating must have a relationship, regardless of sexual orientation as long as the mission will not be compromised. The reasoning for that was the statistics of those in a relationship; married, engaged or such were in a much lower chance of taking risks and returning from a mission alive. With the augmentations suppressing sexual drives, the 37th issued a new drug in their own process which restored it back to normal while keeping the other benefits untouched.

Fireteam leader Spartan Paul Demarco and the rest of Majestic sat down at a table in the mess hall, trays laden with food. Being on station at Noble temporarily, he had just gotten briefing of Majestic's first assignment since their graduation as IVs.

Majestic was the top fireteam of the dozen that had graduated from the training. Consisting of him, Henry Madsen, Jesse Hoya and Tedra Grant, they had utilized remarkable teamwork in their final match. Impressed, Palmer, who identified herself as just _Infinity_ Spartan Commander via a written message had sent a request to have Majestic transferred aboard the flagship for its second deployment on Requiem in about six months, which every member swiftly accepted. They were excited and ready to go, but several assignments predated them. First were counter terror operations in Rio and a deployment to the Azores. There they would meet Majestic's newly appointed fifth member there and then it was only a month before they left for _Infinity_.

Demarco was laughing with Madsen on the subject of ladies when they returned from tour when suddenly the door burst open, followed by storms of screams and growls in an alien language. Some of the non-Spartans jumped at the sound, hearing it countless times on the battlefield.

Waving his arms in a fruitless attempt to free himself, the single sangheili zealot continued struggling. His armor had yet to be removed, but he was unarmed, having been confiscated of his T-50 concussion rifle and sword. A large collar was strapped around his neck, with a long metal cord being held by a Spartan that was not encased in his MJOLNIR armor. He wore the simple black undersuit with adapters that easily hooked in the new GEN2 combat suits. The Spartan would step inside the armor bay where the ring of robotic arms would assemble the armor quickly and thoroughly.

The sangheili zealot flailed his arms, again, his movements yanked the cable and his handler resisted, having a second Spartan, this one a bit bigger come to assist. Tugging on the sides, they finally managed to stop the movements. Guarded by a third Spartan who seemed a bit younger than the others, they moved the elite through the mess hall.

Demarco watched as the fourth Spartan backed them up. He had the eyes of a leader and probably led that four man team. After scanning the mess hall, he spotted Majestic and made a beeline for them.

"They Spartans too?" Madsen asked aloud to nobody in particular.

"I had no idea that Spartans were based in Noble." Hoya added. "Doesn't matter, I'd rather be on _Infinity_."

The lead Spartan came in front of their table and halted. "Fireteam Majestic?" He had a darker shade of skin and his age was in his mid-thirties. His eyes remained calm and kept a knife-edged focus.

Demarco stood, casually saluting, "That's us."

"Spartan Lusana, Fireteam Eon. To answer your question," He looked back at Hoya, his stare seeming to shrink him into his seat, "Yes, there are Spartans based in Noble, but only a handful of fireteams. Anyway, I need at least two more Spartans to help us escort this captive to his ride to Trevelyan."

Demarco stood up as well as Grant. Before the others could react, he waved them down, "Just finish up and get ready. Our ride to Rio leaves soon."

The journey was made in silence. Every now and then the captive would struggle fruitlessly in an attempt to break free, which was usually met with the restraint of Eon's other members.

"Eon huh?" Demarco leaned over to Lusana, who was watching their captive. "I've never heard of you guys."

"You likely never will."

"Were you assigned here or did you choose to be based at Noble?"

Eon leader sighed, "I was assigned to the base. The Spartan unit was my goal and choice."

The teams made their way over to another pelican outside where a special chair had been reinforced with bonds to keep the elite from thrashing. With the marines taking over and quickly securing the prisoner inside, they gave a salute and the pelican's thrusters whined to life.

Lusana and his Spartans faced Demarco and Grant, "Thank you Majestic. We always need a few more guns to help while escorting their hingeheads."

"No problem." Grant's accent caused a couple of them to smile slightly, "Glad we could be of assistance."

After shaking hands with each members of the opposite team, Majestic returned to their table in preparation to be deployed to Rio de Janeiro.

* * *

Eon on the other hand was far from having their day finished. They instead filed past the few others in the hallways until they came to a large unique shaped silvery building. Automatic doors opened up and inside they were screened before giving access to the doors in front that read; authorized personnel only.

The massive structure contained everything and was the brain and soul of the 37th SSD. The atrium resembled that of a business HQ lobby. Sunlight filtered through glass on the roof and the ground's marble floor sparkled. The emblem of the 37th, a black and light green delta stealth design was in the center. To the sides were glass displays of four different MJOLNIR armor sets, a gray Mark V(B), a green Mark VI, a red Mark VI of the Security variant and finally a sharp violet set of the rare HAYABUSA armor.

Doors on either side led out to where the main areas of the HQ and where all the action was. The barracks to the right only had enough room for the four active fireteams that were in the unit. Of course, there was always reserve personnel.

"Welcome back." Eon was greeted by an armored Spartan coming from the main mission areas. The 37th commander, callsign Cardinal had been selected as the inaugural leader when a general in the military conspired with him to form the ultra-top-secret covert op team.

"Cardinal." The four members crisply saluted. He gave them a nod and they stood at ease.

"Did the warlord back out once we made our entrance?" Eon had been deployed to a refugee world where a skirmisher warlord attempted to monopolize the resources away from the suffering humans. Without even being seen, they slaughtered some of his best troops and left them to rot in his "palace" along with a threatening message if he had ever decided to return.

"He was out before we could call for an evac." Eon Two gave a smirk, "Little bitch ass ran off before we could have any fun."

"I'm glad to hear that Fowler. I got your mission ready and am willing to brief you now or you can head to the War Games where Hades has scheduled you guys a quick exercise against Fireteam Jaguar."

The team exchanged quick glances before Lusana spoke up, "I think it's best we don't keep Jaguar waiting."

Cardinal nodded, "Alright. Hades and I will brief you guys once you've finished."

* * *

**How was that for an introduction? Don't worry, you'll know quite a bit about them as the story progresses.**

**And now for my announcement...**

**I know that I revealed that there is a Blades Season Two. I thought Season One was a blast writing, Blessed Composition, Resolve's Light and Havoc Pressure were all enjoyable to write and read. Now I am at a standstill with releasing the first parts of Dark Vein, the first of the second season. Already a good portion has been written and the general synopsis has already been laid out, so I clearly know what I want to write. If I wanted to, I could release it right now, but I don't want an overwhelming amount of work and not enough time.  
**

**I'm not sure what I am going to do, but one thing's for certain, I will continue to write out Venomous Honor like I planned. If I publish the Blades' next epic adventure, I'll let everyone know...well maybe I will do part. Teaser anyone?**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone! You give my writing purpose!**


	2. Blade I

**37****th**** SSD Headquarters**

**Firebase Noble, Reach**

**August 2557**

Completely unique to the Spartan units, the War Games simulation had been only exclusive to the _Infinity_ for her contingent of Spartans. The simulation could hold a maximum of sixteen players and offered various games to keep the Spartans in the best shape for battle. While simulations against the Covenant or the new Prometheans were still being developed, the exercises pitted Spartan fireteams against one another.

Firebase Noble now had completed its own War Games simulator that was compatible with _Infinity_'s. Although now, the computer was playing a local game.

To enter, Eon had completed their loadout and went out to the holodeck where the simulation began to sharpen into its proper clarity. The gametype picked out by Hades, who ran the exercise was Infinity Slayer on Solace.

Eon two and three chose their respective loadouts as assault rifle and DMR primaries while both Lusana and Eon four picked the battle rifle. When the countdown until game start finished, everyone sprinted forward, eager to claim the advantages. Eon three went up the ramp for the sniper rifle while Eon two acquired his favorite SAW. Spartan Lusana and Eon four went down the shaft for the incineration cannon and sword.

After a while of waiting to see who would dash for the weapon cradles, nobody on Jaguar had showed up to claim the power weapons, Eon leader nudged the other smaller Spartan, "Alright, go and get the incineration cannon. I'll cover you." Not a second after he finished the HUD icon for the sword pickup vanished, an indication that someone had taken it.

Eon four sprinted out, snagging the unusual gray and red weapon, pivoting in mid jump to shoot it where the sword had been. Instantly, the loud belch resonated through the map as four red hot bolts suddenly accelerated towards the other end. They impacted, throwing up splash explosions. The initial blast hadn't hit anyone, but the secondary charges had illuminated the shields of a crouched Spartan holding the glowing energy sword. Seeing his cover blown, the Jaguar operative took off into the corridors.

Lusana reacted first though, scoping in, he fired bursts. Three rounds impacted and broke the shields, but failed to kill. He suddenly flinched as another Jaguar had been opposite watching them, covering his teammate's escape. Lusana felt his shields drain before moving back into cover. Thankfully, a following grenade wasn't thrown.

Before he could press his attack, Eon four jumped up, having finished his reload. He let another blast of energy right at his quarry impacting dead center. Instantly vaporized, the "dead" Spartan collapsed to the floor, crumbling into amber ash due to the Forerunner weapon effect.

Without warning, Eon four jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding a well placed fragmentation grenade that would've killed him. Lusana, with his shields still down moved to engage. The Jaguar spotted him first, but concentrated on the evading Eon four. He put a few rounds into his helmet before turning back. As he died, Eon four cursed the lengthy reload of the forerunner rocket launcher.

"Hey Fowler," Eon four reported as he respawned, somewhere close to the map's center. "Someone's got the camo and sword. I'd watch your sniper position in case you're flanked."

"Thanks." Fowler had been sitting at the base of the sniper perch, while Eon three sighted Jaguar's sniper. He managed to let off a shot before he himself collapsed, a sniper round having passed straight through his helmet.

"Damn." Three respawned, "Sniper got me."

"Eon four," Lusana called out, "Neutralize that sniper." He peered out again, eliminating another Spartan who blew his cover for a vantage point. He then deemed it safe, picking up the incineration cannon, making sure he had a safe place to reload completely. Only one shot left.

Eon two had been crouching and slowly creeping around the corner. In the motion tracker, he saw the intensity of the scrambled bright blue dots was beginning to increase. Sadly, he did not have Promethean vision and even if he did, it wouldn't help much.

A blur came to his right and he quickly squeezed off a burst from the SAW. Instantly, they shimmered as they were met with the bright orange shield of the hiding Spartan. Having his cover blow, the Jaguar swordsman charged forward, crossing the gap between them. Fowler of Eon remained steady, keeping the crosshairs downrange as he continuously held down the machine gun's trigger. Although determined, the raw perseverance of Jaguar's Spartan wasn't enough and he quickly succumbed to the flurry of bullets.

"Jaguar's swordsman neutralized."

Suddenly, his shields started blaring, the strobe red of his bar indicated that he was severely damaged. He stole a quick glance at Jaguar's sniper accompanied by a second Spartan wielding a DMR before retreating into cover.

"Hostile sniper's targeting."

Lusana stepped into the shaft, incineration cannon in hand. The lift easily carried him up as he prepared his fiery surprise.

"Austal, I'm going to fire on the sniper's position. If I miss, eliminate him!"

"Eon four copies. Awaiting your go."

He reached the top, where the DMR Spartan fired first. He felt his shields drain to nearly half when he aimed at whatever he could and fired. Shortly thereafter, the opponent had scored a headshot and Lusana commanded an instant respawn.

His incineration cannon had missed on the initial shot, but he had weakened the second Spartan's shields enough for him to be vaporized by the splash explosives.

"Nice going lead." Eon four, or Spartan Marcus Austal quipped, "Sniper's mine."

He kept his camo on and dashed forward. The sniper had sensed his presence early on, but Eon four's specialty was infiltration and assassination. He easily dodged the two pistol shots he could squeeze off before yanking the collar of the suit backwards, followed by a swift knife stab to his visor.

"Sniper down." As he found his next target, a charging Jaguar member firing an MA5D assault rifle, he fought back, with the help of Eon three. The enemy primed a large blue explosive, tossing it straight at Austal's arm. The sticky plasma grenade quickly attached itself and set off the fuse.

"Shit."

Eon three saw the detonation and Austal's death, so he zoomed in with his DMR's scope, putting down the victor before he could react in time.

"This is going to be a long game." He said, as he respawned and moved for his next kill.

* * *

Most of the 37th teams were quite coordinated, quickly recognizing enemy tactics and counter-strategies, reacting accordingly to what they had believed to be advantageous. If any of them were pitted against the Spartans stationed on _Infinity_, the chances of the 37th team being the victors were a 94.315% according to Hades and Persephone, the mission and unit control AIs.

It wasn't to say that the _Infinty_ Spartans were bad or uncoordinated, it was quite the opposite. Spartan fireteams are often assigned with the highest possible success rate when one joins and most enemies, be it virtual or real had to definitely be on their toes when facing them. The 37th fireteams had such a tight and seamless coordination when facing others and even when things went haywire, they could switch to backup tactics, something most conventional squads haven't even planned out yet.

Eon was considered the best that the unit had to offer, however the exercise concluded with Jaguar beating them 50-44.

Lusana took a deep breath as the simulation shut down. Across from him, Spartan Josh Wiles, leader of Fireteam Jaguar had already viewed the results. The two fireteams were friendly rivals, exchanging encouraging words and Eon's vows for a victorious rematch in the future.

"Tony, what's the op command's talking to you about?" Wiles asked as Eon turned towards the mission briefing room, fireteam Jaguar headed back to the barracks.

Lusana shook his head, "No idea, but you know. Whenever we get called out, it's never a good thing."

Jaguar leader chuckled, "No it's not. We'll see you back when you're done."

They parted ways and he made entrance to the briefing room. A large screen showing a rotating digital emblem of the 37th sat in the background. A holotank sat in the center and could be used for touch interaction or projections of holograms. The whole interior of this special room was the briefing area, taking the vibe from those on ships.

Spartan callsign Cardinal stood on one side while the rest of Eon faced opposite. When Lusana stood at their left, they saluted in unison.

"At ease." Cardinal casually returned the gesture before turning on the holotank. Projected was a barren, remote world with sprawling deserts and small pockets of towns that interconnected the planet.

"There's been quite a lot of activity in Ariel's Laica desert recently. The warlord you scared off just now had associates there. ONI already sent in one of their spooks to monitor a PMC operating in the area. Scimitar Security Limited's head says that they're providing security for local mass production farms and natural resources, but it appears that's not all they're up to."

"Indeed." Hades added, swirling onto the table. The Greek god of the underworld's avatar was sort of a devilish appearance. Firstly, he had a bright red Mohawk that ran down the top of his shaved head. His black shirt was patterned with white skulls. In one hand, he had an electric guitar.

"These guys are muscling in on the local industries and the small towns. They're already destabilizing an already shaky area. ONI has confirmed the agent's death two hours ago, but during his final report back to the spooks, he left some critical intel. One of his missions was to figure out where Scimitar is getting all of this military grade ordinance. You're going in to retrieve that as well as finding out why they're doing all of this."

"You'll be onboard the UNSC _Antietam _for your journey there, once boots are on the ground, Hades will walk you through the op." Cardinal saluted, "Good luck gentlemen."

* * *

**Eon's up against pros, but they're Spartans and trained to handle anything that can be thrown at them.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	3. Blade II

**Outskirts of the remote town of Laica, Ariel**

**August 3, 2557**

Dusk had started to fall when Eon reached the outskirts of where the ONI agent had last transmitted his location. Eon had arrived at a UNSC Air Force base outside the largest city of Spritis before having a tiger APC drive them out to the long deserted highway to Laica.

The town's population was a little under a couple hundred, since the colony was very light, having a little more than four thousand residents. Laica's major industry was natural resources and what crops grew well in the climate. Rain wasn't common, but there was enough for farming to thrive. It sat at the banks of a river that had formed the valley long ago.

The four members of Eon were silently observing from a tall outcropping down to where Laica's single main road went through the valley area. The main street was sided with buildings that when the town spread further, the houses started numbering. Much of it looked quite deserted, especially when the Covenant had invaded and left all of a sudden, without even spending the time to glass the planet.

Working in pairs, they scanned areas for activity. Occasionally, they saw a group of kids playing in the main street which they were scolded and waved away by a woman, who seemed to be worried about incoming cars, even though there wasn't one in sight.

Marcus Austal and Brett Fowler trained their eyes on the docks, where a long wood pier had three fishing boats tied to it, their nets out to dry. On the other side of the pier were two sleek speedboats, with black engines and a gold striped hull that sparkled from the town lights. The controls had been off for some time and it appeared that they had belonged to Scimitar, since their main colors were black and gold.

Austal had taken his eyes off the docks to look at the city center when Fowler had spotted movement at the pier.

"I got movement. At the pier."

All eight eyeballs shifted towards there where they activated their suit's night vision. A gunshot echoed through the town, causing the team to begin searching a little quicker. Back at the waterfront, two figures were each dragging a limp body behind them. They exchanged a laugh, indicated by their body language and rolled the corpses of two civilians into the water.

"That's where ONI's agent last had transmitted his location." Lusana whispered over the channel.

"Well I sure as hell ain't looking in the drink." Fowler grumbled, "I didn't even bring my swim trunks."

"Lock it up. Let's move." The four Spartans stood up without worry, their armor, jet black in color blended into the night and proved to be stealthy.

They approached the docks a few minutes later, scanning for activity, their eyes never lingering on a spot for longer than two seconds. Their motion sensors were cold, since the mercs likely went back into wherever they were residing.

"We're assuming the worst." Lusana whispered, "ONI spook could be dark or dead."

It took another minute to quietly infiltrate the docks area. The mercs had left and the only loud sounds were the aquatic life at the riverbank. It was more than enough to mask the Spartan's movements.

"Hades, no sign of the agent. Any help from above?"

"Give me a second." He was back online in the said time, "Looks like the mercs frequently bring prisoners to the east building by the pier, judging from the security cameras, I think that's where their town HQ is."

Spartan Ross Pine, Eon three crept forward, activating his Promethean Vision. Being the only one equipped with armor ability for this mission, he was designate sniper and spotter. He gave a subtle nod, confirming it as the target.

"Four hostiles, one civvie." He could tell because of the clothing. Two of the mercs were sleeping and the other pair lazily held their weapons idly. Eon's favorite type of enemy, easy relaxed targets. The civilian was the curveball, but he didn't seem like a prisoner. The outline showed him rather helping the mercs.

Eon silently approached the building, staying out of the lights to avoid being spotted. The concrete structure had two entrances, one facing the main street and the other on the wood docks at the river.

"Breach and clear." Austal paired up with Lusana. Fowler and Pine stacked at the second.

When both teams were ready, Eon lead sent out a green light on the HUD. He and Fowler kicked down the doors in a lightning quick move. The tired pair with their weapons in hand went down from two shots from an MA5D assault rifle with a silencer threaded on the barrel.

Lusana's M7S submachine gun chewed through the third merc and Austal shot the fourth one dead with his BR 85 rifle. The civilian had only turned around, drawing his pistol when Spartan Pine took him down, pinning his arms behind his back and pressing his silenced M6H pistol to the back of his head.

"Die you Spartan assholes!" He yelled, trying to get help from the sleeping mercs. His heart sank when they didn't respond and when blood dripped from their corpses.

"I'm asking this once. What did you do with the agent?"

"Go to hell-Ah!" His resistance was quickly turned onto agony when Ross increased the pressure on his arms. The Spartan stopped, letting him breath heavily, "He's gone and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Ross looked over at Eon lead, who gave a simple nod as Fowler and Austal searched the room. He raised his pistol and slammed the side of it against the merc supporter's head, careful to make it a nonlethal blow.

"VIP is compromised." Lusana reported to Hades, "Orders?"

"He had left some critical intel before going dark. I'll check with command of what it had entailed."

Fowler and Austal leafed through the main desk area. They had found papers concerning daily patrols and kitchen duty, most likely for their HQ and inside the drawer were two pistols along with clips of extra ammunition. All around the windows were lookout points to deter (shoot) any curious civilians. From what Eon was seeing, they were NOT providing security for the local farming and fishing corporations.

Ariel became a whole lot more unstable after it had been invaded. The population suddenly became a lot more violent, especially towards the CAA and UNSC for failing to protect their people against the Covenant. It wasn't as shaky as some other areas like Victoria or Venezia, but the situation could get out of hand quickly. The slow growing population was a huge hamper if they wanted an independent movement. It was so small that the UNSC only had roughly three or four hundred troops stationed on two military installations. Sure, Eon was up against pros, but the mercs had gotten quite lousy and flawed pushing civilians around.

"Eon, this is Cardinal."

"Go ahead Cardinal." He had uplinked it so that both he and the copy of Hades could hear.

"It looks like Scimitar runs the majority of their operations from a compound on the riverside upstream a kilo ahead. If they managed to get the intel from our agent already, that's where it'll be held. You'll have to hug the hillside as you cross west over to their HQ. Since they utilize boats to get in, expect any ground forces from the worn pathway to be light, but be prepared for anything."

"Eon copies. Out." Lusana switched off the channel and both Fowler and Austal came nearby all four crouching in a square and surveying the area for threats. It was deathly quiet and devoid of civilians. Then again, this was a town with just a couple hundred residents.

"Listen up gentlemen, the mercs established their HQ on the west side of the river. We're to go there and extract intel, find out how these guys are getting so much military hardware."

He got acknowledgement lights from his other three members and they quietly exited the town, staying low in case a light sleeping civilian or merc would hear them. By now, the sun dipped under the horizon, casting a pinkish glow across the water.

"Man this is beautiful. Wouldn't mind taking the wife out here without all the guns, explosions and shoot-on-sight mercs." Pine quipped.

By now, the few lights of the town had been reduced to dot size. With the view of the dock, still clear, the mercenary boats hadn't been tied off their mooring spots. Had it not been for the few people seen by Eon earlier, they would have guessed that it was a ghost town.

Nobody had been sighted on the way to the HQ building, a ramshackled concrete structure that had been abandoned decades ago. It was derelict other than the sentries posted at the entrance and a few parked trucks and dropships, with holds open and crates stacked about.

"I see four hostiles," Fowler reported, "Auto rifles, by the main entrance."

"Line em up." Lusana tagged them on his HUD. The icons blinked red identifying them as hostiles. One by one, each merc was in the sights of one Eon member.

"Go." He said. All at the same time, Eon fired suppressed bullets in a perfectly timed shot. None of the sentries knew what hit them.

"Targets neutralized."

"Moving up." Austal said. He used the shadowed zones to approach. Inside the armor, his eyes were scanning both the HUD and motion tracker, both of which were cold. He sent a green signal, allowing the rest of Eon to cross.

The doors to the maintenance area was unlocked, the team performed a sweep and clear maneuver, heading out the back door to the larger building. Dominating the back area were looming hills of mountains where the brown peaks seemed to touch the sky.

They had come across a set of barricades that sat in front of a neglected gravball court. Five mercs, all out of their PMC uniforms were playing a casual game. Much of what they saw was just a normal-pass time style of play.

"Eon, it's Hades. The intel was brought back inside their analysis wing of their makeshift HQ."

"Copy that. What's the scan of the layout?"

The AI paused, "Um, we're using a spy satellite to get full resolution, give me a few seconds…. okay, it seems that the analysis and interrogation areas are on the second floor at the rear end of the building. I don't think they've managed to crack whatever his recorder may have stored. Just be prepared for the worst."

"Wilco. We'll rendezvous at the primary LZ once we've finished."

"Copy that." This time Cardinal had butted in on the line, "Looks like the mercs aren't expecting any trouble."

Fowler snorted, double checking his weapon, "Yeah? These guys make me sick just chillin around playing gravball while their buddies are out there butchering civilians."

"Don't let that get to you Fowler." Cardinal shot back, "They may look like petty thugs, but they're well-equipped, well-trained and quick on the trigger."

"We'll get it done."

"Good. Also be advised that we are detecting a pair of enemy wings in your airspace. Hades identified them as gunships. Swallow type. That amount of firepower is military grade and it should be enough to tell you about Scimitar's lethal connections. They are quite a ways away, but are maintaining their heading in your direction."

"Roger that. Will we get any air assets?"

Back at the command center, Cardinal nodded. "That's an affirmative. The Antietam's executive officer has agreed to have an airstrike hot in case things go south. It's your panic button, but don't use it unless you really need to."

"Eon's moving to the target. Over and out."

"That's all I've got for you. Updates will come in due time. Good luck gentlemen." The line clicked dead.

Eon quietly observed the mercs again for a few seconds. On their HUDs, Lusana marked four targets, intentionally leaving the fifth one out since he sat at the court's edge, observing his injured shin.

One by one, the four Spartans trained their sights on one merc, each sending a green light back to Lusana.

"Go." The cough of suppressed weapons was heard for a split second, dropping the targets.

"He's mine." Eon one targeted the injured merc with his rifle and putting a round in his chest before he could do anything. "Let's get through the courtyard and grab the intel before anything gets worse. In the event, we got help from up high, but let's make sure it doesn't come to that."

They traversed to the second floor, where a handful of unaware PMCs had been quickly taken down.

The transmission's last signal had come from a room that was adjacent to the stairs. Austal activated his magnetics to look inside. It was uninhabited, so he quietly opened the door, allowing the others to sweep.

The interrogation room had a single chair in the center, where it had loose straps on the arms to keep the victim from squirming. A hi-powered light on a flexible stand was opposite and nearby was a table with several tools that every member knew was for torturing purposes, from rusted knuckledusters to a light flamethrower. If this was where the ONI agent's last moments occurred, then surely his intel would be brought here as well.

While scanning the tables, Austal saw what they had been looking for. "Got it." He slipped the data drive into an empty slot in his utility compartment that was on his chest.

"Cardinal. Eon's got the intel. We're en route to extract."

"Copy that. Antietam's dispatched a pelican for extract."

Heading out the door, they had planned to slip into the hills when suddenly they heard someone shout. None of them spoke Chinese, but they instantly knew what was expected of them.

Outside, they already heard the sound of the swallow gunships well before they became visible. The older models had mostly been phased out by the middle of the insurrection. They were retractable winged VTOL warships measuring 55 feet in length and a 30 foot wingspan. Mass produced as close-air support, the three versions of the swallow had been used in the insurrection and previous conflicts with quite an undisputed success records. Like all aging aircraft, the swallow was phased out. However its reputation of being one of the fastest ground attack aircraft kept it in many select branches. Unfortunately, many terror groups that were rising in power once the war against the Covenant had ended had gotten ahold of these fearsome machines, using it against their own designers and masters.

Pine shot his DMR at a merc who was training a spotlight on the team. The operator went stiff and fell down the stories, landing at the bottom with a wet smack. He then fired two more rounds, shutting it off.

Eon ducked behind a pair of cement barricades, feeling the vibration that the two AV-11 swallows were peppering against the other side with their autocannons. The typical armament of the aircraft was a single GUA-23 Linkless chain gun and Argent V missiles, nasty warheads that chewed up armor.

"Antietam, this is Eon lead! We are under heavy fire from enemy air! Request strike package Hotel Lima!" Lusana peered around, peppering the side of the closer target with a few rounds. It ignored the barrage and continued its suppression of Austal and Pine, who had scooted to the barricade's edges.

"Eon, the Hotel Lima package is confirmed launch, awaiting your guidance."

"That's you Austal!"

He gave a simple nod and crouched down, with Pine covering his work by taking a couple of footmen that had joined the fight. Fowler and Lusana added their gunfire, but had to do it quick to avoid being cut to ribbons by the chainguns.

Austal concentrated the feed from the missile on his helmet display. He triggered the Archer pod's split and clusters of explosives suddenly blossomed in an orange cloud right behind the gunships. With a deafeningly loud explosion, the two gunships disappeared in the flames. Any mercs that stood nearby were vaporized too. Eon felt their internal coolers pump more cold air from the heat, but they were otherwise unharmed behind their hiding concrete barricades.

"I guess that worked." Fowler was the first to speak.

"Yeah, talk about danger close." Ross added.

"Cardinal. Eon's en route to the primary LZ."

"Negative Eon, that missile launch has caught the attention of other Scimitar teams in your area. They're heading in your direction, lots of them. We'll divert the pelican to the secondary LZ where we'll pick you up."

**Eon's got their objective and now must get to extraction!**

**Here are the team's bios and Spartan configurations.**

* * *

**Callsign Eon Lead/One**

**Name: Anthony J. Lusana**

**Gender: Male**

**Birth: 4/9/2520, Houston, URNA**

**Hair Color: Black**

**Eye Color: Brown**

**Height: 6'9**

**Spartan Role: Team Leader**

**Preferred armament: M7S LR Caseless, M6H PDWS**

**Armor:Rogue Helmet, War Master Chest, Pioneer Shoulder Guards, Contoured Forearm and Leg guards, Cyan Visor**

* * *

**Callsign Eon Two**

**Name: Brett M. Fowler**

**Gender: Male**

**Birth: 11/23/2531, Ninth Bay, Criterion**

**Hair Color: Dark Blond**

**Eye Color: Blue**

**Height: 6'8**

**Spartan Role: Automatic Rifleman, Gunner**

**Preferred armament: M739 LMG, M45E TS**

**Armor: Commando Helmet, Tracker Chest, Enforcer Shoulder Guards, Contoured Forearm and Leg guards, Cyan Visor**

* * *

**Callsign Eon Three**

**Name: Ross Z. Pine**

**Gender: Male**

**Birth: 2/2/2527, Hudson, Terra Nova**

**Hair color: Black**

**Eye Color: Brown**

**Height: 6'9**

**Spartan Role: Sniper**

**Preferred armament: SRS99-S5 AM, A9 PDWS**

**Armor: Deadeye Helmet, Warrior Chest, Recruit Shoulder Guards, Contoured Forearm and Leg guards, Cyan Visor**

* * *

**Callsign Eon Four**

**Name: Marcus A. Austal**

**Gender: Male**

**Birth: 6/26/2535, Cravate, New Corsica  
**

**Hair Color: Auburn**

**Eye Color: Gray**

**Height: 6'7**

**Spartan Role: Recon/Knife Combat**

**Preferred Armament: M57 PDW, A9 PDWS**

**Armor: Scout Helmet, Rogue Chest, Wetwork Shoulder Guards, Contoured Forearm and Leg guards, Verdant Visor**

* * *

**Even though it's a bit early, I know that many of these characters will be really fun to write with. Who's your favorite Eon member?**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.**


	4. Soulsearcher I

**Laica, Ariel**

**August 3, 2557**

"Quick, move!" Lusana ordered as Eon had sneaked back into the town. With the dissolution of their HQ building, several parties of mercs had taken the boats anchored to the smoking wreckage. From their view, it was just around the hill with the dull orange shimmering to remind the havoc that they had just caused.

Back at the town, a few civilians had peered out when they heard the explosion, although many had fled back inside once Scimitar's men were all heading to the wreckage. One of them was disarmed, running away from something when he had tripped with a scream of pain. A few seconds later, a group of civilians ran over to kick him. By the looks of their action, they were making sure the payback was slow and agonizing.

"Heh, looks like the locals are getting some revenge."

They were going to tear him apart, which Eon allowed, watching discreetly from the sidelines. Once the last Spartan took his eyes off the scene, the screaming had ceased due to a wet sound of a blade slicing through the helpless merc's torso.

There were two squads cautiously patrolling the road ahead and Eon had no way to take an alternate route without attracting the attention of the locals.

"I got eyes on two riflemen." Pine reported, "They're by the streetlight."

"I see em."

"We'll scoot." He quietly opened the door, clearing the main house's room with Austal. Heavy snoring came from the back of the room and they made sure to only make noises when the rumbling commenced.

Without warning, they suddenly heard a rapid rise of voices. The mercs suddenly surrounded the front door of the house. There was heavy banging when it came down, startling the occupants of the house.

Yelling back to his comrades, the breacher pressed further inside.

"Not very stealthy are they?" Fowler noted.

The team heard gunshots, followed by a sickening sound as the house owner was murdered. It was evident that Scimitar was zealous at executing the civilians to make sure those responsible for torching their HQ never even thought of it again.

Another merc opened the door to the back entrance. Expecting no trouble at all, he heard a movement in the corner and peered over, coming straight face to face with Spartan Austal.

"Now you go straight to hell." He quipped before lunging forward, snapping the man's neck in a fluid motion. In the other room, he heard two more muted gunshots as Lusana and Pine finished the remaining two intruders.

"Clear, let's go gentlemen."

The trek to the secondary LZ was silent, far from the lights of Laica. Lusana lit the brilliant white flare, attracting their ride back to the _Antietam_. When everyone was onboard, they could somewhat relax. It took a full thirty minutes to leave the atmosphere and return to the designated hangar. The mission wasn't over until they had a debrief from Cardinal, yet so far the op had gone quite smoothly, although Eon was used to things going haywire in the most wild ways.

The destroyer's executive officer was waiting for them once they had touched down. After a brief greeting, the warship set a course for Reach, where she was due to resupply and drop the four off.

Nobody on Fireteam Eon knew that their actions that night had already impacted the future of their next few missions.

* * *

**Firebase Noble, Reach**

**August 5, 2557**

"So you're saying is that the mercs didn't seem to be as dangerous as our intel had believed?"

"That's a negative sir." Tony answered, "We're Spartans, much higher grade fighters than average. What's a typical walk in the park for Eon is a different story for normal people."

"I understand." Cardinal stated, Hades stood nearby ready to analyze their recovered intel in tandem with an ONI AI.

"It's going to take some time before anything is pointed out." Hades finally said, switching hands with his guitar, now styled in a series of bones on fire. "My bro here is trying his best too, but we can only do so much."

"That's alright Hades, thanks anyway." The AI nodded and his avatar disappeared into the holotank. "Like he said, I can't do much else with you other than remain on station for however long until we can work out a connection between Scimitar and the military grade. If worst case scenario, we'll have to go hit their main HQ and that will take hours in the War Games simulations."

"We'll be ready to go." Lusana looked at Eon. "Just tell us when and where."

"Alright." Cardinal nodded, "So in the meantime, I'm going to grant you some leave. You've all deserved it after that smooth op back on Ariel. See you gentlemen."

Lusana didn't have family on Reach, they were back somewhere in the URNA on Earth. Other than online chatting, it was the closest he got to spending time with them. If you weren't military, then living on Reach could get expensive at places, especially at the newer suburban areas of New Alexandria and Quezon.

"Oh and Austal?" He stopped short from exiting the briefing room, "A word?"

Marcus casually saluted as Lusana dismissed Cardinal as well. He groaned on the inside, whatever his leader had to talk about was likely a touchy subject.

"I think you know this already, so what I now know shouldn't come as a surprise." Austal nodded. "Sir."

"Why did your record state otherwise? You know this action of lying about your relationship will get you discharged from the Spartans."

"I was in a relationship sir. However, she had cut it off the day I was accepted into the division."

Lusana looked a little unconvinced, but at the same time, he was just as much wanted to keep him in the unit. Austal was just like many young bucks, eager to prove himself as an indispensable Spartan. Sometimes, he used unorthodox and unfamiliar strategies to gain an edge, but his addition was a unique skill set. For the most part, Austal was looked after by the other Eon members quite like a kid brother. Fowler had even joked that he was too young to be married. He himself was going to be wed to his fiancée in weeks. Lusana had his wife and family back at Earth and Pine had a house in New Alexandria where he lived with his wife.

He crossed his arms, "Tell me about it."

"There isn't much to say. She quickly terminated any interactions between us during my early time in the Spartans. We pretty much ceased talking right before my first mission with the team."

"What was her name?"

"Tessa."

"Look, I don't want to delve into your personal life. That's your problem." When Austal slightly recoiled, Eon lead paused, rewording what he was saying, "Just make sure you can find someone you can care about so that you can be on the team without recklessness."

"We all are reckless, married or otherwise sir."

He sighed, "Then just make sure you're fulfilling all requirements in the 37th for the sake of the regulations. I'm not the one who put it in and I sure as hell want it revoked, not just because of your situation, but also because there's a lot of potential in Spartans who do not have attachments to others."

Austal saluted, "Yes sir."

"Enjoy your time off Spartan. See you in a few."

* * *

Ross and Brett were sitting by their cars when Marcus walked back outside. They looked at each other, flashing wolfish grins.

"I don't need a psychic to know you've got something planned. What is it?"

Fowler opened the door to his car, a 2558 Capri Dragon that was among the sleekest and hottest cars in stock. A brand new frame was topped off at nearly half a million credits.

"C'mon, Austal, back to your place. Ross and I have something to show you."

He got into his silver Dynamik, not the most popular model, but it was enough to show that he had good taste when driving. The jeep was open doored and popular ever since older type of vehicles were used back in World War II.

Austal's apartment was in the southeastern part of New Alexandria, about a thirty minute drive from Noble located west of the city and another ten to get to Ross' house. Brett Fowler and his soon-to-be wife were also living in the eastern side, although further south.

Fowler loved showing off his sports car's incredible speed and he was already out of his car, waiting for the other two Spartans to catch up in their slower vehicles.

"What the hell took you guys so long?"

Ross gave a shrug, "Unlike you, I prefer not to risk getting speeding tickets."

"Hey it ain't my fault my engine makes the car go fast."

Austal sighed, removing the keys to his apartment complex and passing both squadmates. Lusana wasn't going to visit his family this time, due to a trip back to Earth requiring a longer leave to be worthwile. "Can you guys just can it and tell me what you are invading my home for?"

"Oh right." Fowler retreated to his trunk, popping it open and taking out a cooler. Inside, were three beers, covered in clear ice cubes. "We heard about your relationship problem and have established a solution." He gestured to the door of his apartment, "C'mon, you'll love it."

Austal had moved in less than a month ago, of that time, he didn't have much time for décor, having spent only two days inside the residence since moving in. He hadn't met any of the neighbors or seen them, as he first arrived on a relaxing Sunday and then left at five in the morning on Tuesday.

* * *

"A dating website?!" Marcus couldn't believe it, "You gotta be fuckin kidding me."

"Relax." Brett grinned, seated at the computer, "You'll love it."

The interior of his apartment was clean. The computer sat on a mahogany table opposite of a four burner stove. The pantries were all located around his kitchen and the fridge was nearby. His two bedrooms had a few boxes from moving still stacked around. Even when he had been only there for a couple days, he had already transformed his part-time home into a warm-comforting house that had an ambiance of style.

"You don't have many options kid." Pine added, "Rules are rules and to stay in the unit, they gotta be followed. This was more of his idea." He pointed to Brett, who was currently interested in one particular profile that his search patterns matched.

"In my opinion, it's a stupid rule. Even the cap agrees." Marcus took another swig of his drink. He wasn't much of a beer drinker, having preferred wine, but Brett Fowler had a friend who ran a homemade brew and sold it in a couple of local markets. The taste was pretty good.

"He does know that really none of these types of dating websites really work?"

"Beats me."

"Alright, I had my fun." Fowler stretched before looking at the time, "I better get going." He stood, exiting the door, "You fellas take care!"

With Ross' help, Marcus had already shut down his dating account, ignoring the half-dozen requests in his notification bar.

"Thanks for staying Ross." He meant that, "I really appreciate it."

"Not a problem. Brett just thinks that it's really easy finding a special person. He and his wife, Maria had met online, although not on a dating site."

"I wasn't intending to use it anyway. It's better to meet girls the conventional method." Switching subjects, Marcus finished the last of his beer. Ross' bottle had already been tossed away. "So what do you think about what had happened back on Ariel?"

"What with the PMCs?"

"Yeah."

"I don't really know. Scimitar is a rather illegitimate group, they've been involved in some shady things and this cover-up for protecting the farmlands was much more of a more covert op for something. However, what their interests are is not the concern of the thirty seventh. We want to know how they got hold of such advanced hardware."

Marcus nodded, "Yeah, because the variant of swallows they used against us at their HQ is not a grade that is freely distributed."

"If I'm right, this is something big and I don't think we or Scimitar knows how big."

It was getting very late. Marcus found himself yawning and Ross observed his open maw before succumbing to the temptation as well.

"Yeah, I best be heading off." He showed Ross to the door afterwards. He grinned as he started his car, "Let me know if you need anything!"

They waved their goodbyes before Marcus quickly showered and fell asleep once his head hit the pillow.

* * *

**Perhaps Austal is right, they maybe need to drop the relationship requirement? He's got three options, try and petition for the requirement to be repealed, find someone or be relieved from Eon. And I don't think everyone wants option C. I feel that this was somewhat of a risky chapter to write, but it's all part of the final plot chosen.**

**A little more on the civilian side of the Spartans, the 37th get much more frequent leave than their cousin units. For those of you who love the action sequence of sneaking around, there's more of that and for those who are waiting for more development into the Spartans' personal lives, there's more of that too.**

**Now let's see if Marcus can get a soul-mate...**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.**


	5. Soulsearcher II

**Austal's Apartment, New Alexandria, Reach**

**August 6, 2557**

Marcus Austal kicked the door shut and set four bags that he had carried full of things that he would need in a household, groceries, extra lightbulbs and a few tools that he needed for installing the extendable arm for the flat television in his room.

The tech for his security system had already left with the alarm installed, indicated by a note left on the side. The payment was to be done in 24 hours, a thing he could perform in just a few seconds.

After stocking his fridge, he made a quick lunch out of bread, mustard and freshly sliced turkey. He was about to open the kits for the arm when his comlink starting buzzing. The ID read EON LEAD. That meant it was time to retire his suit of armor and say farewell to the remainder of the team.

Bracing for the inevitable, he picked it up, opening the channel.

"Austal speaking."

"Marcus," In the command center, Tony paced back and forth, with a speaker on his ear. The lack of the central device allowed him to not have to put the headset to his ear to talk. "I got some good news for you. I convinced Cardinal about your predicament and got some results. The relief of your position due to a lack of a relationship is currently on hold and will be decided once this plot gets thwarted. Hades and some ONI spooks swapped data, but so far, the picture's still a bit blurry. I've already instructed Spartans Fowler and Pine to return back to Firebase Noble and you're going to do the same. We're being redeployed. More details when you get here."

"Roger that and thank you for the second chance. I feel that I might be able to stay in the unit after all."

"Have you found someone?"

"No, but I feel that I'm very close to." He hung up, quickly putting everything away before locking the door behind him. Both the lucky lady and that arm for the television would have to wait. Over the time, at the store, he had chatted with a young woman who seemed to be quite interested in him, however he had sensed that it wasn't the right person. If he wanted to stay in this elite unit, it would have to be anybody.

Part of him hoped that he'd be back in time before all the food he bought today would expire.

* * *

**Firebase Noble**

"Good." Cardinal gave Austal a formal nod once he walked inside, all encased in armor. The rest of Eon stood by, likewise suited. "Hades' results had come back and a picture is starting to emerge. Jaguar had disrupted a drug trade a few days ago as well and the intel they recovered was traced to the same source of arms that Scimitar had obtained. It's a gunrunner out of Flint with a very big inter-colonial client list. You'll be headed to Misrata, where this guy's been conducting some huge illicit trade to opposing groups of the UNSC and its allies. He's been moving some nasty weapons, from military grade assault rifles to the swallow gunships, maybe even weapons of mass destruction. We need to cut him off before something even more catastrophic happens."

"Good enough sir." Lusana noted, "Are we getting any assets?"

"Affirmative, since this dealer's got quite a force to guard him, we are doing a joint cooperation with Flint's Advanced Security Militia. Their operation will cover ours, where we will get the supplier and they will keep the local. Your ride to the _Antietam_ will be leaving shortly and I'm not sure when you'll be back. In addition, the techs managed to solidify the performance of the perma-camo armor ability allowing an unlimited time of invisibility, but be careful when moving. This will be active once you're crouched or prone and it seems to function much better than our Covenant counterparts."

"We're ready sir." Lusana nodded to the team.

"Alright. Good luck gentlemen."

* * *

**Misrata, Flint**

**August 7, 2557**

Eon was perched atop one of Misrata's outer skyscrapers. The optics of their helmets didn't do much to help clear the smog that seemed to permeate the visor.

"Cardinal, Eon's on approach to target zone."

"Roger that Eon, it appears that the buyer scheduled to arrive at the hotel in a few minutes. Be advised that there are a large amount of civilians in your vicinity. Keep a low profile and minimize engagement when in dense areas."

"Affirmative." Lusana cocked his head, one hand on his M7S LR caseless submachine gun, "What about his customer. Should we extract him as well?"

"That's a negative. The Flint forces will get him. Our top priority is the seller. If you do make contact with the buyer, make sure that he is alive."

"Eon copies. Out."

Back in the city, the blaring horns of traffic below was like a symphony. Atop the building, they could see several other towers which gave way to smaller buildings the further out from the city center. In one direction, they saw a massive set of hangars and docked ships that seemed to be on their deathbeds for whatever scrapyard was located there.

Lusana and Austal were on the roof while Fowler and Pine were crouched a few stories below on an observation balcony inside the hotel having set up a sniper's nest. Their camo had allowed them to easily slip through the hotel lobby, even in MJOLNIR armor and quickly ascended to the top. They now were gunning from an observation deck a few stories up, having an excellent view of the front doors below as well as the bridging highway that had a never-ending gridlock further into the city center.

"We've got a positive ID. It's the buyer." Pine reported, "He's got a cadre of henchmen, all unarmed, but likely having handguns inside their coats."

"Copy that. Austal and I will be heading down near his room to see if we can make contact with the seller. Let us know when the Flint forces will be here to secure the insurgent."

"Copy that. We'll inform you if we get a fix on him."

Lusana set his rappelling gear up and prepped for drop. A few feet away, Austal did likewise. Eon knew that the buyer would want a private room for his dealings. Lusana had called from atop the roof asking if there were reservations placed for private rooms. Of course, the receptionist had responded that every private suite was open save for one. Since they were all only on one of the higher floors, a visit to the website proved the schematics of the hotel and they quickly triangulated the reserved room. Seconds later, he and Austal had devised a breaching plan, should they have to do so.

Through their HUD's Pine and Fowler had marked their targets as they progressed through the hotel. At the bottom, they halted and slowly began getting closer, oblivious that they were being observed while ascending in the elevator.

Austal adjusted his grip on the M57 PDW in his left hand. With his right on the line pulled taut, he was locked in place a little higher than Eon lead. "Any sign of the dealer?"

"Negative." Fowler responded, "You think he spooked?"

"I don't know." Lusana said, "Austal, if we have to breach, get ready."

"Copy."

The markers began to separate as the dealer and his bodyguards walked over to their reserve hotel room. They had spread out again as the room was directly underneath the rappelling lines that they had placed.

"Still no sign of the dealer or the Flint forces."

"Alright, let's go ask him about the seller. Lusana eased a little tension off his line, allowing him to descend slightly. Austal now lowered himself so that his camouflaged armor now was positioned so all he would need to do is jump and break that glass with his boots. Lusana lowered himself to the equal height. Both men were about to breach when suddenly Austal held up a fist and slowly pointed inside. The dealer had his own comlink out and getting ahold of something.

"I bet he's calling the seller, asking why he's late."

"You might be right." Lusana peered further into the glass, making sure no jammers were present before taking out another sleek black device about the size of his palm. With Austal keeping his own weapon ready if they got caught in the unlikely situation, he locked in on the signal. Having it jammed would instantly cause suspicion from other guests staying inside and since the dealer wasn't there, nothing sensitive was going to be leaked. Either way, the buyer felt quite comfortable in his room, with only his guards listening to his conversation.

Tony's device, nicknamed the "Black Hat" instantly got hold of the signal transmission the dealer's frequency. The other line had been picked up and the dialogue was in English, but it was the location of the call receiver that was important.

"Got it." Lusana whispered, adjusting his grip on the line. "Hades, we need you to trace this signal and give us the location. It's confirmed as the seller."

"You got it."

"Time to go?" Austal found his legs starting to burn from his position on the rappel. Tony felt his own limbs beginning to feel fatigue from the MJOLNIR armor. It wasn't designed to be in rappelling for this long.

"Let's do it. Remember to keep the customer alive." They sprung their legs out, letting them go free from the side. Straightening their boots, they easily cracked the glass upon entry, their camo modules deactivating.

Glass shards sharp as knives pierced the air. Caught off guard, the gunmen had little time to react as Tony opened up with his submachine gun. All were dressed in suits and ties and now had some ruby blooms of blood stitched on their torso as the bullets tore through the clothing.

One of them pulled out a pistol, confirming Ross and Brett's theory of concealed weaponry. He didn't get far though as Austal aimed his M57, firing three shots through his stomach. The weapon barely budged as the Spartan easily anticipated and countered the kick.

The buyer was a Caucasian man with a few scars on his bald head. He too had his pistol trained on Austal as he finished the last of his protection unit. Before Lusana could disarm him, the weapon discharged. The younger Spartan flinched as the round hit him squarely in the upper chest, although deflected by the shields, he still felt the energy and shock. Whatever time that brought was futile as now in retaliation, Austal had lunged forward, twisting his arm enough to make him scream in pain and drop the pistol to the floor, where Lusana nudged it out of his reach. Meanwhile, Marcus tossed him to the floor and put a boot in his back.

"Cardinal, buyer's been contained. We'll give him some shut-eye until the Flints come to pick him up."

"Alright." It was Hades, "I've got the position and a fix on the dealer."

"Is he mobile?" Cardinal asked from his line.

"Negative."

Back in his operations center, the commander cursed, "Eon, we've got a situation. The Flint military's locked down the way of traffic that the dealer was supposed to take to the hotel. They've provided overwatch and are now closing on his position."

"It just got from bad to worse." Hades added, "_Antietam_'s radar picked up a pair of falcons belonging to the Flint army headed for the hotel."

"It looks like they're taking a stab at both ends."

"I thought we had established a deal." Austal's anger in his voice had threatened to boil through.

"Seems as if they think they hold the cards now." Cardinal replied, "Your top priority is to capture the dealer at any means. Do not let the Flint forces capture him first."

"Do you think we'll be able to make an exchange? Maybe trade the buyer for the seller?"

"That's not going to happen Austal, the seller's the bigger fish. If the Flint forces get him then they'll make sure we never come within his spitting distance and we'll have a hell of a time digging him up if he slips away."

"We better make sure we get him first. What should we do if we encounter the Flint forces?" Lusana asked.

"I'll get our falcon to rendezvous with you in the square adjacent to the hotel. That way, we can provide air support and bring you in from the opposite direction. That lets them push the target closer to you to avoid any mishaps. Now let me be clear," He paused for a second, "You are not authorized to engage the Flint forces. I repeat, do not engage the Flint forces in any way, shape or form. The last thing the UNSC needs to be with Flint is another inter colonial incident hitting the headlines of the news."

"Copy that." Lusana said, "Will they be doing likewise?"

"Not if they don't see you."

Pine suddenly cut in on the channel, "Lead, we got a visual on a pair of falcons circling the hotel."

Both Spartans inside the room heard them before seeing. "Got it." He turned to Austal, "Time to go."

Ten minutes later, the Flint soldiers clad in their white and blue combat fatigues had disembarked on the hotel roof and executed a crisp breaching of the door with their assault rifles to the room. The sergeant commanding paid little attention to the shattered window or the whistling of the wind. Although he didn't know who had done it, the operators back at their home base were satisfied that their target was left for them on a silver platter. By what means were irrelevant to the team nor the commanders.

* * *

**Bit edgy huh? Eon's now hot on the seller's trail and it's a race to see who can nab him first.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone. You give my writing purpose.**


	6. Soulsearcher III

**Misrata, Flint**

**August 7, 2557**

Spartan Fowler and Pine had been picked up by the falcon's pilot, Lt. Emily Mitchell. After rising above the skyline and the city noises of car horns, it leveled out, heading towards the steel works over the congested highway. The two Flint airforce falcons didn't even turn to them as they busied themselves with clearing the already-cleared building of threats, courtesy of Austal and Lusana.

"Spartans," Mitchell spoke over the radio, "I'm seeing hostiles converging through the gridlock on the dealer's position. My bet's that they're going to extract him fast."

"Copy that lieutenant." Fowler took his place at the M247H machine gun that was bolted to the aircraft's side. "We'll provide cover fire to any threats."

"Good enough Fowler." Lusana and Austal had been decloaked and pushed through the crowd in search for a vehicle. Most people saw the fearsome complexions of the Spartans and just moved away quickly without a word. "Switch to non-explosive rounds to minimize civilian casualties."

"Roger that."

Both men made their way to a parking garage where they cowered behind a large truck and saw a civilian spade stop and prepare to enter a parking spot.

"Let's move."

The driver and his wife had just heard the doors open when they found a pair of black armored Spartans with threatening gestures holding pistols at their heads.

"Out." Austal commanded.

As they pulled out from the hotel's garage, Marcus felt a little regret of stealing their ride. Although many times, he'd been told to cross moral boundaries if it meant mission success. On the other hand, Tony wasn't fazed by it, even if he felt just as much remorse. The spade was an open faced truck that had enough durability if Lusana's driving skills failed to stop a collision.

"Ever carjacked before?" He asked.

Tony turned to the side to look at him, "Who said we were carjacking?"

They sped out of the garage and raced through the highway to the target. Up above, the falcon trailed the concrete highway, on a dead center course.

Gunfire suddenly erupted from their left as another truck accelerated right next to them, the gunner trigger happy and intent on gunning down the two Spartans. Lusana juked for a split second to try and deter the fire and Austal raised his weapon, firing off controlled bursts as best he could in the factors of both rapidly moving vehicles. The rounds pinged off the side of the truck, doing little damage other than a few dents. He couldn't risk firing with so many civilians around, but the truck gunner didn't seem to care at all.

"Hang on!" Lusana swerved again, avoiding stationary traffic while maintaining his course. He saw a clearing and quickly judged the timing, the truck keeping pace with the gunner's aim as they sped further down the highway. The spade slammed into the truck's side, tipping it over and jarring the gunner for a split second, but it was plenty of time for Austal to put a burst of rounds into his skull. With them free of suppressive fire, Lusana kept the pressure on, wearing the driver's side of the truck into the concrete barricade. At the last second before other cars were in his lane, he broke off, weaving through more traffic. Mitchell kept pace with the spade, flying low enough for Ross Pine to shell a second gun truck with a hail of bullets. Four rounds impacted the fuel tank and it exploded in a brilliant orange cloud.

"That was effective!"

"Target's up ahead. Looks like he's gotten aware of your approach because he's moving towards the Flint forces now."

Lusana saw up ahead that traffic was too congested to drive the spade anymore, so he parked it and they both exited, sprinting in between the cars to make up lost ground. A few cars honked at their crazy stunt, but both of them ignored the banter, with their sharp minds and intent on the arms dealer. There was no way the Flint military was going to get him first. Much of the ground had narrow lines to run in, so Lusana and Austal leapt on top of the vehicles, jumping over them just like in the movies. Tony knew that jumping on a car with a suit weighing half a ton was sure to get a very frightful reaction from the driver.

"I got a visual on the HVT!" Fowler shouted, "He's stealing a white sedan!"

"Stall him!" Lusana shouted, "We won't be able to catch him if he gets into the clear."

Mitchell ascended a little higher as the highway peeled left. The white sedan was honking at other cars in front to move already. Finally some of them relented, allowing him to quickly move from zero to nearly seventy miles an hour within a couple of seconds. Fowler aimed a little in front of the HVT's stolen car and let off a stream of rounds. The pavement was peppered with bullets, causing the driver to slow his pace.

Austal was close behind and broke into a full sprint just as he reached the clearing. In the armor, his top speed was greatly enhanced, although nowhere near as fast as the Spartan IIs or IIIs. Lusana's fire punched holes in the car's trunk, stalling enough to have Austal be able to jump on the back.

A door opened in the rear, revealing a pistol wielding gunman. The Spartan reflexes were quicker and Austal launched a blow that cracked a wrist and send the weapon onto the concrete. He put him out with another strike with his free fist, sending him cartwheeling out of the car and tumbling out. The car jerked, moving even faster and almost causing Austal to lose his balance. However, he kept a tenacious grip on the back, zealous to capture the target. Fowler sprayed some more machine gun fire in front to slow. It had worked, but it would soon be obsolete as the target may had already realized that he was wanted alive. Smashing his way through the back door, he was met with a second gunman wielding a pistol as well. Thinking fast, he drew his own handgun and double tapped him in the chest.

Moving to secure the HVT, he saw him, the driver reach into his pocket. Expecting a gun, he lunged forward, causing him to swerve the vehicle. Now fully in view, the dealer flicked something and dropped it in the back of the car. Marcus didn't need to see the object to know what it was. As he reacted, he noted the car beginning to slow and a hasty getaway by the HVT, who made a beeline for a walkway that spanned over the highway.

"Grenade!"

The explosive detonated, sending shards of metal flying everywhere. Austal felt the blistering heat as the car's engine exploded. His shields shimmered and suddenly drained quickly. Upon seeing this, Lusana and the others of Eon were shouting at him to move to cover. They got no response.

"Austal!" Fowler shouted, as Mitchell brought the Falcon to a hover.

"Austal come in!" Lusana had caught up with the wreckage and he saw the golden glow of his MJOLNIR armor's shields recharging. Going over, he saw him stir and breathed a sigh of relief. He was alive.

"C'mon, we're not done yet." He extended a hand, helping him up.

"I feel like shit." Marcus groaned, flicking a shard of metal that was embedded in the armor. Pain shot through his legs as he tried to stand and had he been inside the car when the grenade went off, he would have probably lost a limb.

"Eon, this is Cardinal, what happened?"

"Cardinal, Austal nearly had the HVT and was hit by a grenade. He's intact."

"Copy, get on hot pursuit. We've got a fix on the dealer and it looks like he's heading for the steel works on the city's edge."

"Roger that, Eon's on the move." Lusana waved for the Falcon. It descended and the other two members got on, with Austal slumping in his seat, groaning in pain as his biofoam injectors in the suit automatically treated any wounds suffered inside. Once both Spartans were secure, the falcon accelerated in the direction of the waypoint that Cardinal had established.

"We've got an identification on the dealer. Diego Juan Ramirez." The commander informed them, "Used to be on the New Corsican Intelligence Agency before being kicked out with assault charges. We're still linking, but we already have enough to be worried off our ass. Earlier reports have him linked to import/export groups with known ties to war criminals and hate groups. They are very good at making this disappear like money, weapons and people. If he disappears, we may never track him down again."

"We'll get him before the Flint forces or anyone else sir." Lusana assured him, "Let's get moving. Eon."

The falcon quickly caught up with the waypoint, where Fowler spotted other gunmen covering Ramirez's escape. Spooling up the minigun, he sent hundreds of rounds downrange where they shredded concrete, flesh and glass. A rocket had been launched, missing by a few feet thanks to Lieutenant Mitchell's skills at dodging the aircraft. The sudden dodge had nearly sent him and Pine out of the aircraft and they found themselves gripping their seats to steady themselves.

"Do something or these guys are gonna smoke us!"

"Firing the main gun." Mitchell let it rip as Ramirez leaped for another walkway spanning towards the first part of the steel works, which were labeled Metsker on the large hangar in the distance. Her aim shattered the structure, but he had made it inside. "Damn. Target taking refuge inside the scrapped ship."

"Hold position and provide overwatch. Austal, man the gun and kill any hostiles while the rest of Eon search for the HVT."

"Copy that." Fowler and Pine dropped twenty feet down from the dropship, their shields dropping slightly as they absorbed the shock. Onboard, Austal did a quick check of the gun and then centered it on his point of interest.

Eon activated their camouflage and silently crept into the derelict freighter. Much of it was dark with a foggy appearance of some toxic fumes from burning oil to chemicals. The floor was strewn with debris and trash that the shipbreaking workers had tossed carelessly.

Sounds were weird too, with shuffling of multiple sets of feet throughout the corridors. They seemed to be coming from everywhere.

"Eyes open." Lusana coolly commanded, "I don't want any surprises."

Fowler's pistol shifted aim as he checked an empty corner, "Not even ice cold beer?"

Gunfire erupted outside, followed by an explosion as Austal destroyed another gun truck. "Lead, looks like that truck was here to pick up Ramirez, head topside and work your way out. I doubt he'll be going back the same way he came in."

"Hostile contact. He's on the opposite deck, wielding a rocket." Pine whispered.

"Take him." Eon's sniper put a round into his skull, causing the terrorist to jerk and go limp, his body ragdolling as he fell down the balcony.

Suddenly more gunfire came from outside the hull and Lusana heard the shouts of Ramirez's bodyguards trying to coordinate a counter-attack as Austal nailed them with the machine gun.

"HVT's on the top deck!"

"Copy that, we're inbound Austal, just keep em suppressed."

Back outside, Austal's HUD indicated that the machine gun was starting to overheat. Even with the advanced vent systems, it still took a while to cool down if it did end up getting too hot. He relaxed his finger off the trigger as Mitchell avoided some more gunfire. A lucky round hit him, but had been absorbed by his shields.

Ramirez watched as Austal steadied his aim when Mitchell slowed down. He centered it on his last bodyguard, a burly man wielding a rocket launcher and fired. More than twenty rounds impacted in his chest and burst it open. He went down screaming as Ramirez backed away from the approaching falcon.

Austal half jumped and limped out, wielding a pistol pointed straight at the dealer's forehead. "Don't move."

Seeing his assailant as wounded from his earlier action the dealer smirked, "You're not in a position for me to surrender."

Before he could try and perform a suicidal rush to the edge, he suddenly found himself winded as something from behind knocked him down. He gasped to reflate his lungs and had sluggish movements in response to Lusana's boot on his back.

"Cardinal, HVT secure. We got him." The dark-skinned Spartan hefted Ramirez to his feet and walked to a clearing on the ship's rusted deck.

"Excellent work Eon. Bring him in." Mitchell landed the falcon and Eon was out of there before the Flint forces realized that the UNSC had gotten the bigger catch.

* * *

**Never doubt Eon. With Ramirez captured, perhaps they are closer to the big picture.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone, you give my writing purpose.**


	7. Soulsearcher IV

**New Alexandria, Reach**

**August 10, 2558**

"Damn it." Austal cursed as the screwdriver rod snapped in two. His only tool needed to assemble the arm for his new screen was now useless. Spartan augmentations were handy in the military, their buffs were however limited when trying to live a normal life outside Eon and the 37th. Sure, he was capable of carrying all of the tile that he was putting in his bathroom and kitchen, but apply too much strength to a stubborn screw and you end up with a broken tool.

Tossing the two halves into a wastebasket, he'd have to get another one from the hardware store.

After Ramirez's capture, the team was given a couple more days of leave as a reimbursement for the early calling for the Flint mission. Lusana as usual, remained stoic and on base. Pine spent the day with his wife and he thought he heard Brett Fowler's idea of taking his fiancée out to dinner.

"Dinner does sound good right about now." He said to nobody in particular. The arm would again have to wait until later.

Outside, he crossed the parking lot to his car when the lights had come around the corner to park in the spot next to his. The apartment number was painted on the concrete at the start, so it meant that the covered spot was shared between him and his next door neighbor. The driver let him shut the door and parked the sedan.

He paid little attention to the other driver, about to get ready to go when the door opened.

The other driver was a young woman roughly about his age. Her hair was the exact same auburn shade of his and tied into a ponytail. She wore a gray shirt and black athletic pants with a white stripe running down the side. Her eyes radiated a hint of fear when seeing him, but the dark blue hue was what caught his attention.

"Uh hi." She said, giving a wave. Marcus raised an eyebrow, she seemed very shy.

"Hi." He grinned. Man, she looked gorgeous. The fullness of her mouth and the natural form of her body was enough to make almost any guy fall head over heels. The better fact was that she was his next door neighbor. If he could play his cards, right, maybe a relation could happen and his chances of being removed from the unit would be gone.

He cleared those thoughts out of his head, those thoughts were jumping by months. "So you're my next door neighbor."

"Oh really?" She didn't look too thrilled about that.

He was about to confirm it when the other doors of her car were thrown open and happy voices of kids came from them. Three little children, two boys and one girl bounded out over by her. When he saw this, his heart sank a little bit. She must have already had kids. Some part of him doubted that because they were around six and seven years old. Observing her hands, he noticed that she did not wear a ring.

"Who's this?" The girl asked.

"I don't know."

"Yeah, I just moved in a couple of weeks ago, although I haven't had enough time to settle in because I'm away from home a lot."

The woman nodded, "I see."

"My names Marcus Austal by the way. It's great to meet you."

"I…I'm Gabrielle Addison."

He pointed to the children over next to her, all with tiny bags of groceries in their hands, "These your kids?"

"Huh?" Her voice wavered a little bit. If he was to judge right now, she seemed very intimidated by him. Most of the time, his size was quite large since Spartans were much taller people. However, he often had his easygoing complexion that most people had nothing to fear from him, except for his foes. Most of the time, it was just awe at the Spartan's sheer size, in or out of their armor. "Oh no, they're not mine. They're my cousin's. He and his wife are on vacation and come back later today. Still a lot to be done and I'm exhausted."

"I see." Marcus gave a nod, "Well Gabrielle, it was nice meeting you and I'm right next door if you need anything."

"Oh!" The older of the boys exclaimed, an idea had formed in his head, "Why don't Mr. Marcus come and help you with dinner?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea Derek." Gabrielle's voice trailed off.

"Sure it is! I'm sure he hasn't eaten yet and like what you saw back on the highway, the traffic is jam-packed!" He smashed his fists together to emphasize his point.

She sighed, "All right." The kids cheered, "My guests for their last night insist that you join us for dinner."

Marcus smiled, "You sure? I don't want to be a bother."

"No it's alright. The dinner I planned tonight is more than enough for the four of us and it usually gets thrown out anyway."

"Fine by me." The Spartan concluded. Gabrielle showed the kids and him into her apartment, slightly embarrassed at how she didn't clean it before inviting a guest over. He hardly cared anyway. The interior had a warm atmosphere and it was a symmetrical layout to his own. The room smelled sweet of fruit, caused by a white candle burning on the table. In the semi-spacious kitchen, Marcus spotted Gabrielle placing a house flamethrower back in the drawer.

"Okay." She called over to the kids, "Go on and play. I guess that Marcus and I will be preparing dinner."

They shouted in excitement and ran down the hallway, eager to play some sort of game. It left Marcus alone in the kitchen with the owner and she seemed very uncomfortable with him inside.

"I seem like a bother." He caught on, "Is something wrong?"

"No." The response was short. Yeah, there was something definitely wrong, but he wasn't going to pry any further.

Marcus eventually added his own help into cooking the spinach ravioli, which didn't take long. He even made some garlic toast using butter, chopped garlic and some leftover bread. After all the food was prepared, Gabrielle set out five bowls and plates, ladling a creamy sauce onto the stuffed pasta. She then waited for a minute for the food to cool before calling the kids over. After a formal introduction of himself, he listened to what they had to say. Gabrielle's cousin sure raised a bunch that was memorable. Derek was the oldest and the most adventurous, Jeff was the second oldest, but he was a little shy, but eager to meet him as well. Sophia was the daughter and her cute eyes and innocent nature had captivated him.

Marcus had received some compliments on his garlic toast, a simple part which he considered a ritual whenever he had pasta of any kind. Once the dinner was done, the kids ran away to continue their game while Marcus helped Gabrielle clean up.

"Thanks for having me over." He said as he put the last of the pots away.

"You sure know how to cook."

"I can't expect to live off of eating out." He chuckled; they made their way over to the living area where they sat on opposite couches talking.

"So what do you do?"

"I'm a photographer for Westbrook & Associates Photography." She replied, pointing to a rather expensive looking camera that lay on the side. "It wasn't my first choice, but it pays well enough for my expenses."

"That's good."

"What about you?"

"I uh," How was he supposed to say what he did? His occupation as a member of the 37th wasn't exactly supposed to be public. He wondered if other people related to the Spartans knew, like Tony's family.

"I'm a consultant for a recon surveying group."

"I've never heard of that." Gabrielle smiled slightly.

"Not many people have." Marcus mentally gave himself a high-five as he continued his fake career, "It basically judges terrain and factors that will impede a scout team's progress. It pays pretty well, although I don't have a lot of time to spend at home until I get some good amount of time off."

"Where are you from?"

"I was born in Cravate, New Corsica."

Gabrielle's eyes widened, "Me too!"

That explained how she looked so beautiful. Although considered egotistical, people from New Corsica were generally quite high on the "beautiful" scale according to a fashion magazine that Marcus had seen in the store. The planet, though sometimes rife with violence was considered one of the top places to live due to its blend of Italian, French and Mediterranean style. He was about to ask her out on perhaps a date with coffee, but as soon as he opened his mouth, someone knocked on the door.

Part of his Spartan training was to analyze threats before they occurred. He had been reaching into his pocket, but suddenly realized that he wasn't in his armor and neither his M6C defense pistol or his knife was with him, still at his house less than ten feet away.

Gabrielle peered through the camera feed that looked at who was on her doorstep and relaxed slightly, opening the side to show an middle-aged couple, who looked rather proper to have the three children.

"Hi cousin." The husband greeted, wrapping her arms around Gabrielle's waist. His wife gave her a smile and called inside, "Kids, mom and dad are here! Let's go home!"

"Yay!" All three sets of little feet ran over in excitement, throwing their arms around their parents. From his seating at the couch, Marcus smiled. The family was close knit and since he didn't have a spouse of his own nor sired children, it was something that he had established as a goal.

"Who's that?" Gabrielle's cousin gestured to him.

"Oh him? That's Marcus Austal, he's my next door neighbor." Still, the cautious edge was present in her voice. It seemed to lack confidence.

"What's he doing in your place?" His wife asked. The tone indicated that it was a surprise. Something was being kept from him, as much as he wanted to know what the problem was, it was beyond him to ask. The answer would come in due time...hopefully.

"Derek had enlisted his help with dinner and I certainly needed the extra pair of hands."

"Ah, well keep an eye on him." The family exchanged their goodbyes and they left, the car's headlights disappearing around the corner of the covered parking lot.

"It's getting a little late." He had stood up, heading to the door. Gabrielle followed him, arms folded from the cool breeze that came in when he opened it.

"Yeah it is. Thanks for all your help. I just can't handle everything by myself."

"It's not a problem at all. I can't handle everything myself either." He turned to head back.

"Yeah. Well goodnight and I guess I'll see you later."

"You have a safe night." He shut the door and walked straight to his bed.

As he lay, unable to sleep, he couldn't get her out of his mind. The fact that she didn't seem to have a boyfriend or fiancée seemed to increase his hopes. However he knew that that hope could just as easily collapse if he made the wrong move.

"I might just be able to stay." Was he?

Chuckling softly, he blamed his endless thoughts about her on the wine he must've drunk earlier. Seeming logical, it wasn't long before he drifted off to a peaceful sleep.

Austal had drunk water during dinner.

* * *

**Austal seems to have caught someone's attention and she looks like she could be his chance to stay with Eon. However, there's something she's hiding something from him and it could spell his undoing in the unit.  
**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone, you give my writing purpose.**


	8. Atrocity I

**Briarton Mall, New Alexandria, Reach**

**August 12, 2557**

Gabrielle Addison remained silent as she continued to browse another department store. Her boss at the photography studio had agreed to let her have the day off. Thus she managed to get her two best friends, Madeline and Kate to come and spend a day at the mall, just like they had done when they were teenagers themselves. Even though it was quite cliche, being able to get time off and have a meeting to catch up with friends was actually quite rare.

Madeline had golden blonde hair that fell to her shoulders and she walked with a brazen approach, an eye catcher for many men that were walking in the mall. She took advantage of it by wearing a purple low-cut top and a pretty silver lined necklace. Her flirty attitude wasn't much help.

Kate also had blonde hair, but it was shorter and she wasn't as revealing as much as Madeline was. Still quite pretty, she was the only one of the three that was engaged, to a store manager who sold sunglasses and other athletic apparel.

"Gabrielle, come here and look at this." Madeline said. The next dress that she planned to put in her closet full had cost a full two hundred and fifty credits, among the top ten most expensive she was in possession of.

"Madeline, you do realize that having revealing dresses when you go to these parties do not make you any more appealing?"

She made a scoffing gesture and continued to admire it. Gabrielle took the opportunity to head out and just browse around. It was the first time she was able to think on her own.

The electronics store had several televisions and holo-displays for the multitude of entertainment on the screen. Currently, the channel on the largest display was on the news and the reporters never seemed to stop talking about Infinity and its encounter on Requiem.

"A powerful Forerunner known as the Didact had succeeded in firing upon New Phoenix less than a month ago, annihilating its entire population. The war hero, Spartan-117 had managed to stop him at the cost of his beloved AI companion Cortana. Spartan-117 is currently being debriefed. In other news, newly promoted Captain Lasky has announced the UNSC's plan to head back to the Requiem world to establish science bases and clear out the occupying Covenant."

She was so engrossed in the news about the Didact's assault on Earth and a newer, but apparently less important article about a terrorist capture on Flint, who had links to criminal elements. It wasn't shown who had performed the capturing, but the Flint military was certainly annoyed that they had been beaten to the prime target. No idea did she know that her friends were right behind her.

"Gabrielle!" Madeline shouted to get her attention, she screamed shortly and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry." Kate gave a short smile, "We're done! Madeline bought the dress."

"Really?" She put her hands on her hips, "How many paychecks are you going to have to do overtime to cover that?"

Her friend ignored the question, "How about we go for a drink. I'm really thirsty!"

Both Gabrielle and Kate agreed, so they went into a bar called the Singapore Sling. Named after the famous cocktail developed in the location of the same name, it served nine different variations of the drink. Gabrielle wasn't one to drink alcohol frequently, but other things were served, due to the mall meeting requirements that most if not all stores had to be kid-friendly.

The atmosphere was radical with upbeat music playing and contemporary designs. Singapore continued to be a modern country back on Earth, having technology at its forefront and an immense amount of wealth that generated a boom in tourism, economics and culture.

Madeline ordered one of the variations of the Singapore Sling while Kate and Gabrielle settled for water. Sitting on the counter, they remained lively as both of them struck up a conversation, eying some men in the bar who happened to be by themselves.

Then she saw him again.

Marcus Austal seemed to have a knack for being in the right place at the right time. He was at the counter perpendicular to hers and was deep in conversation with another young man that seemed a couple of years older than him evidenced by the stubble on his chin. Part of her wanted to remain silent, but she also had a nagging feeling to go and talk to him. That feeling would most likely be encouraged by Madeline, who was quite the flirt.

"What are you staring at?" Of course she would be the one to notice.

"Over there." Gabrielle discreetly pointed to Marcus and his friend. "That guy over there on the right is my next door neighbor."

"Really?" Kate asked once both of them finally saw him.

"He's sooo dreamy." Madeline was already lost in her own world.

"Hands off," She quipped in response, "He helped me cook for my cousin's kids a couple days back and overall, he seems to be quite an interesting guy."

"We need to get you out of your box." Her flirty friend took an approving sip of her drink, "Did he seem to like you?"

* * *

Over at his section of the bar, Marcus Austal had met with Brett Fowler for a beer. The two had some time out of their home lives and knew that their return to duty was imminent. Hades had most likely found something with Ramirez captured.

"So you got the memo from Lusana yet?"

"Nope." Austal shook his head, drinking another sip of beer, "What's the word?"

"Well he's going to call us and said we might have another op to do. He promised some more leave and Ross wants to have a party afterwards." He gestured to Austal's body. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel lucky I didn't lose a limb. That grenade felt like it detonated right beside me."

"Yeah, that was very lucky." Fowler felt his comlink vibrate and reached into his pants pocket for it, "Hope that's the car dealer telling me my new Dragon's Breath engine is ready." His face fell into disappointment when he saw that it was Lusana.

"Eon Lead." He gestured for them to exit the bar. Marcus laid several credits at their spot and they took their drinks outside.

Back at her spot, Gabrielle watched intently as Marcus and his friend left the bar.

"Why aren't you going to talk to him?" Madeline exclaimed, "You might not see him again."

"Madeline, he lives right next door." Kate reminded, trying to calm their exuberant friend.

Brett and Marcus found a leather pad that they could sit outside of the bar due to the blaring music and Tony's displeasure of them being in such a noisy place when he had news to deliver.

"We've got another op. Get all your shit together, we'll be gone for a while on this one. Be at Noble in one and a half hours. Do not be late."

"No shit." Fowler said after hanging up the phone. "Looks like we got another lead on whatever our friend coughed up. We're to be at Noble within ninety minutes and according to Tony, we're going to be gone for a while."

"Then we best get ready."

* * *

**Firebase Noble**

"Diego Juan Ramirez." Cardinal began, pacing in front of the suited-up members of Eon. "Former member of the New Corsican Intelligence Agency before being kicked out on assault charges. ONI, CNRD and SSA are still exchanging information but we've got a general idea of what's happening and it's not new."

Hades wordlessly pulled up a display on the holotank, the emblem of two fangs over a red forked tongue came into view.

"Ramirez ran arms dealing and is one of the main suppliers for the Venom Wing Party, a hardline faction inside New Corsica. What little we managed to get out of him so far is that they're using a concealed pathway along the equator as a transit for their movements. For all we know, Venom Wing can possibly be moving some nasty cargo to get in the hands of some truly bad people."

"Is the _Antietam_ going to be on our support?" Lusana asked.

"Negative, her captain will be just dropping you off and then moving on patrol throughout the Ensee System. She'll have pelicans ready for evac if you need, but it'll be enough time to figure this out. You'll be inside the jungle route to map any patrols and convoys. This thing runs deep and both the UNSC and ONI are worried at how much manpower this ultranationalist group has. The colonial government and the UNSC have made countless tries in the past to locate these smuggling routes and they've so far been in vain. Locate these routes and then when you find the stockpiles of weapons, give identification, then bring them down."

* * *

**Onward to bring down this Venom Wing group!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone, you give my writing purpose.**


	9. Atrocity II

**Somewhere in the jungles of New Corsica**

**August 15, 2557**

A caiman was the smaller cousin of the crocodile and alligator. Abundant in the hot jungles, they enjoyed a diet of fish, other reptiles, birds and mammals. The fact of their rather dwarfing size compared to their more aggressive counterparts didn't hide the fact that it was any less dangerous.

The Equatorial caiman was a young adult and it slowly crept up to the side of the creekbed, listening intently to the screeches and various sounds the exotic jungle produced in New Corisca's twenty-seven hour dayspan. So far at this region of the jungle, nothing fed on them, save for human hunters, but they had yet to scour this area for the valuable hide and meat the caiman was known for.

Although today, the reptile wasn't the apex predator. A rustling noise that was nearly in audible to other lifeforms came from his right and it slipped into the water. As it searched on the surface, it went into confusion at how it couldn't see the four individuals that were just on the edge.

Eon paid little attention to the pair of eyes that their motion trackers picked up, instead focusing straight ahead at their general waypoint painted on the HUD. The camo had allowed them to be less than three feet away when the noise had given their presence away, it wasn't enough to alert any gunmen, but the caiman had heard them and fled into the pond.

"Cardinal, Eon's on site, about a klick from the suspected route."

"Roger, see if you can intercept a patrol and locate their stockpiles. If Venom Wing's smuggling weapons through the jungle, we need to find them fast before they scheme anything."

"We're moving. Spread out," Lusana waved his free hand, the other one on his M7S LR. "Any hostiles are to be engaged discreetly, although I don't suspect anything at a remote location like this."

"Yeah," Fowler agreed, "And in this humid weather? I doubt they'll be out for long."

The steamy type of heat was among the worst. Thankfully Eon's GEN2 armor provided automatic heating/cooling conditioners to match the user's body temperature. If one wasn't in an air conditioned building, they were sweating profusely, even in shady spots. The equator, the area perpendicular to the polar axis of the planet frequently had the highest temperature and rainfall if any jungle lay on it. If not prepared, getting stranded in the jungle could be just as bad or even worse than the desert.

"Hey kid. You alright being on your homeworld?"

Marcus shifted his crouching stance as he was on point; Fowler just had to ask those types of questions, "My parents and I were born here. I grew up in Las Vegas."

"Sin City huh?"

"Fowler, that's enough." Lusana was vigilant as ever on noise policing. Ross Pine remained calm; he hadn't said more than two words since their pelican had left the _Antietam_'s hangar.

The closer they got to their destination, the less dense the jungle became. Still, the gnarled trees had vines snaking around them and linking with others. Sunlight was patchy as the overhanging branches blocked out the rays. Their boots were coated in a layer of mud, thanks to the humidity; the ground was soft and wet. Even for Spartans, if they had to hack through the growth, it would be quite an exhausting task.

"I got sights on a possible road." Pine reported from his position a few feet away from Austal. It wasn't easy to see, but the edge of a long clearing was at the line of trees. The road was just packed dirt that happened to be less moist than the jungle area. Tire tracks had hardened when vehicles previously here had slogged through.

Ross crouched down, examining one of them. "These tracks aren't fresh, most likely made about two hours ago."

"So their patrols will run for greater?"

"I'm willing to bet on that."

"Cardinal." Eon Lead contacted the commander, "We have confirmation of an unidentified road. Can't confirm that Venom Wing is using it, but this route is being used for something."

"Acknowledged. Hold your position and track any other vehicles coming your way. We're monitoring the main highway ten miles to your south to see if any irregular traffic is breaking off from the patterns. So far nothing's been glimpsed. If there's vehicles headed your way, they might already be in the jungle route."

"Eon copies. We'll send reports if anything is spotted." Lusana took a knee at the edge. "Let's set up a roadblock with the trees." He pointed to one of the thicker ones that looked to be near dead.

Pine and Fowler got to work while Austal kept watch further down for approaching hostiles. Fowler had supported the sniper up to the branches where he hung from the outermost limbs. His action and increased weight caused the tree to lean sideways. Fowler produced his shotgun, sticking the muzzle inside and blowing off a few shots. Although ineffective, the blasts had shot considerable chunks off. Inside, the fibers were snapping, as Pine's armor continued the strain on the trunk without some support. Working quickly, he slipped in plastic explosives in a shaped charge and armed the detonator.

"Charges set."

Pine dropped from the tree, landing in a shoulder roll to cushion the fall.

"Blow it."

Brett triggered the explosive, blasting splinters of wood everywhere. The giant tree snapped, slowly tipping over until the creaking grew in volume before slamming down on the road, splashing the wettest of the mud everywhere.

"Everyone clear?" Tony retracted his arm which he had used to shield his visor.

"We're good." Fowler said after scanning and finding both others a few feet away.

"Alright the bait is set. Check your gear and relax deeper in the jungle if you want. We might be here a while."

Half an hour later, Pine had been scanning the edge of the road with his sniper scope. The remainder of the team was relaxing in the shady of the trees with helmets off. Austal was digging into a chicken stew MRE while Fowler and Lusana were performing a check of their gear.

"I spotted heat waves in the distance. My motion tracker's cold, but I think some vehicles are approaching."

The team took just a few seconds to ditch any other gear they didn't need and donned their helmets, laying prone in the mud. The camo wasn't perfected enough to function while standing or running, but crouched or prone made it the next best thing to being invisible. Any mud that was on their armor still remained, but at the angle anyone was looking at would mistake them as absent.

There were two vehicles in the convoy. Up first was a jeep that had been converted into a gun truck. Armor was welded into places were the vehicle was vulnerable like the engine and rear. A thirty caliber machine gun was mounted on the rear, manned by a bored looking gunner who wore aviators and a faded orange beret.

The second vehicle was what caught Eon's attention. The truck's rear was covered in cloth that was strapped over whatever was underneath inside the boxes. It wasn't the type that could carry a WMD, but it was enough to blow up a good section of an average city.

The jeep halted five feet from the fallen trunk and the two crew got out. Fowler and Austal made their move, slinking out and creeping behind the larger truck. In his utility pouch, Eon two produced a device about the size of his thumbnail. He turned it on and stuck it to the rear bumper, taking care that it was well hidden.

"Tracker's placed." The two Spartans made their way back just as the tree had been moved out and the convoy moved on. Tony waited for another minute before informing command.

"Cardinal, we've placed a beacon on one of their vehicles. We're going to track it to the stockpile."

"Cardinal copies. Proceed." He replied.

"Okay gentlemen. Let's move out."

* * *

The team had been trudging for an hour down the path where the vehicles had gone. Since there were no forks or tire tracks that deviated from the road, it was assumed that they stuck to the open and the base would be in sight.

The weather had turned from sunny to overcast, foreshadowing the torrential downpour and healthy dose of rain to come. The clouds looked light gray and moving over them like blankets. The equatorial jungles had among the highest humidity ratings on the planet. The type of heat was among the worst. Whether you were in the shade or sun, it was going to be extremely hot regardless.

"Man I thought New Corsica was supposed to be a beautiful planet in both city and country." Fowler complained.

"It is." Ross Pine agreed, "I spent my honeymoon at Verona Beach and it is truly amazing."

"I don't know if I'll be doing likewise. Especially with so much war and uprising."

"Not everything in paradise is trouble free."

"Halt." Lusana held up a fist, motioning ahead. He was at the top of a hill and the four Spartans instantly knew the place down below on the other side was what they were looking for.

With the beacon transmitting its last location from the area, the truck was parked in the corner of the large clearing with two others. None of Eon spotted the jeep, so they expected it to pop out any second. Wire fences boxed the compound in and a small two story building with faded paint seemed to be a headquarters with a couple of guards. Along the closer side were two warehouses easily capable of storing two swallow gunships each. Like the HQ, they shared the same pathetic look of negligence. It was likely that the facility wasn't first used for illegal weapon storage.

"We'll split up here." Eon Lead ordered, "Fowler, you're with me, we're going to see what the HQ of this place is. Pine and Austal, search the warehouses."

Instead of voicing their acknowledgements, Eon flashed their green lights, quietly splitting up as they moved to the gate.

Pine stayed back a ways, providing overwatch as Austal took a lower approach to the warehouse closer.

Lusana waited silently as Fowler put a rather bulky silencer on his shotgun. His work would only be done at close range. The shotgun's silencer still made it quite noticeable, unlike in movies and games. When he was inside the building, then the shotgun could be fired without alerting anyone else outside.

"Hostile spotted." It was Pine, overlooking the ridge. "He's over behind the drums near you Fowler."

"I see another rifle." Tony added, "He's moving across the road."

"See any more?"

"Negative."

"I got nothing."

He stuck out his rogue helmet, the bright cyan visor nearly invisible to the gunman just a few feet up front of him and Fowler. "Don't assume there aren't any. Keep an eye on your motion trackers. If we need to take out multiple, mark em and drop em at the same time."

Fowler held the doorknob at the headquarters building and quickly yanked it down. Snicking open, both Spartans swept in a breaching fashion, Eon two seeing the bored gunman and putting him down with a moderate sounding blast.

"Clear."

The main building had just a few desks and papers that were of no relevance. A door next to the front entrance was locked, with the assistance of their MJOLNIR armored strength, they tore the door off the hinges and casually noted about the firepower of multiple assault rifles and pistols. Fowler found some more shotgun shells, stuffing a handful into his utility pouch. Lusana looked at him in disbelief.

"What? I'm almost out."

"Get into the computers and see if anything useful can be found."

Fowler nodded, slinging the shotgun on his back. He knelt down to the keyboard, careful not to press buttons too hard that would cause the electronic to break.

"Hey I found a map." He said after a couple of minutes. He pulled it up, showing a sophisticated intricate network that spanned the half of the jungle. A couple of stations had fuel and other supplies for the smugglers, but the warehouses here seemed to be the main place for storage and dealings with the terror groups Venom Wing was linked to.

"Cardinal, Eon's found a map of the smuggling routes, we're gonna transmit the frequency and give Hades a soft copy."

"Cardinal copies."

"Okay Austal, Pine what's on your end?"

Pine spoke, "A couple more hostiles are still out patrolling, but it's all quiet."

"Good to hear." He surveyed the room again for enemies once Fowler finished sending and he too pulled out the shotgun. "Austal, what about you?"

"Yeah, you may want to see this." At his position, he sent the live camera feed from the helmet recorder. "Hold on."

Austal's display was now visible to all other three Spartans. Onscreen, it was dark and a muffle came from in front of him. He had his hands around a surprised guard and gave it a savage twist. The neck made a soft popping sound and he laid the corpse on the ground.

The sight in front made shivers run down the Spartan's spine.

Giant shelves stored explosives as far as the eye could see in the darkness. Most of them were older models of destructive bombs, using the laser guided technology to be much more lethally accurate. Austal's heart rate monitor was not viewable to his teammates, but it suddenly increasing when he recognized a familiar shape in the back. He took a step forward.

"Nuclear warheads."

"Eon to Cardinal." Tony was on it instantly, "We have confirmation of the smuggled route containing a building with WMDs. Are you watching Spartan Austal's feed?"

"Affirmative, this isn't going to go very well back here. Can you bring the warehouse down?"

"It's more like if we can get out of the blast radius." Fowler quipped.

"We'll get it done sir."

"Good." Cardinal said, "This location of the secret smuggling warehouses will go a long way into hunting any other illegal operations any groups hope to have on New Corsica."

"You heard the man, plant charges."

Austal sent his green light and moved to the support areas, the place where explosives would both destroy and bury all the stored bombs. The charge was about the size of his fist, having a small timer and detonator with adhesive on the back. He stuck it to the wall and found four more support areas, where the remaining explosives were placed. A few guards were around the nuke, talking about its capabilities and making his blood boil when they talked about it going off somewhere on Earth. Without warning, he lunged out of the shadows, gunning two of them down and then unsheathing his knife to stab the one talking about the detonation in the throat. All three had died within a five second span. No remorse was felt by him. The only purpose they now served was a uniform to wipe his blade free of the crimson blood that stained the metal.

"Charges set."

"Alright let's exfil out."

Using their advanced camo, the team slowly filed back the same way that they had come. The few guards were now still patrolling about, most likely bored because nothing other than territorial wildlife ever strayed close to this facility.

"I think we're clear." Pine observed once they had reached the top.

"Austal." Lusana ordered.

Wordlessly, he removed the detonator from his pack. He made a quick check for all five charges and then pressed the button.

From the warehouse below, five massive shockwaves and balls of flame seemed to spring out of nowhere. The explosion destroyed the nukes first, spreading to the other explosives. By a full fifteen seconds, the entire warehouse's left side groaned, caving in on itself. The debris had fallen on a guard, causing him to scream in pain as the flaming metal scorched the already hot skin. Eon slipped away just as the last of the warehouse had fallen, rendering every little destructive device it once sheltered now useless.

"Just another day at the office." Fowler declared.

* * *

**Indeed.**

**I first owe all of you an apology for not forewarning about my absence. I'm not on writer's block, just have been traveling and busy working so much that the time I had to relax had fallen to sleep. With that being said, I don't know if I can continue with my consistent update schedule. It'll be difficult, but I'll try my best.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	10. Atrocity III

**UNSC **_**Antietam **_**orbiting New Corsica**

**August 16, 2557**

"Awesome." Lusana gave a whistle to the newest breath of fresh air upon removing his helmet. "Look at that boys!" All three Spartans turned their heads to see the UNSC destroyer _Antietam _in geosynchronous orbit over the blue and green jewel of New Corsica. "She's home away from home."

In his seat, Fowler groaned, "I really love the Navy. It's great except for all those fuckin sailors."

"Well don't sweat that Fowler." Hades said from Pine's external speakers, "Cardinal just signaled me. We've got trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" He asked.

"Don't know. _Antietam'_s XO is waiting for you guys for a briefing."

The pelican was guided into the brightly lit hangar bay where personnel were already securing down before the ship's pilot even had thought about powering down the engines.

In his crisp, uniform, the XO greeted the Spartans and gestured them to follow him to a briefing room. While not as unique as their own back at Noble, it still did its job to serve as a place to inform teams of what they were to do. On the walls was a painting of a battle of the between men in blue versus men in gray. The American Civil War's bloodiest single day conflict, the Battle for Sharpsburg or more notably, Antietam, which the destroyer was named after.

The _Antietam_ was one of the first vessels that was put into service once the war had ended. During that time, she had only been assigned to escort duty and an overwatch for _Infinity_'s trials. Now she was in the thick of battle, having participated against the Covenant in the elite civil war.

Eon entered the small bluish lit room, where the XO and the holotank with Cardinal's dossier awaited.

"Eon, excellent work on tracking down the smuggling routes and that map will go a long way to hammering it in the future, however, we have a huge problem."

On the display, the dossier minimized and replaced with a replica of the long thin spinal space elevator.

"Looks like a hostage situation. Verona Beach's space elevator was hijacked this morning and the terrorists appear to be issuing an ultimatum to Governor Soir and the New Corsican governing body. I don't know if they're Venom as well, but they too have been calling for his replacement."

"So what are they after?"

"A four billion ransom as well as him and his cabinet's abdication from power. If it is refused, then they've already threatened the massacre of their hostages as well as the shootdown of oncoming craft."

"Haven't the controllers warned the traffic?" Pine asked.

"Negative, the control staff was taken hostage at the same time and under strict gunpoint to continue their jobs as normal. Any attempt to warn the pilots have not been done and if it were to be done, then the controller would be killed. These guys know almost any codeword for distress."

The XO spoke up, "We want you to infiltrate the control room and warn the traffic of what's happened. Rescue the controllers so that they can send out the distress call. Meanwhile, we'll have hostage rescue teams on standby with the ransom so that this crisis can go without incident."

"So how are we going to get inside? If we go by Pelican, they'd shoot us down." Austal said.

Fowler nodded, "Same thing with ODST drop pods."

None of them had prepared for that option, but Lusana had already been thinking of that just when they were ordered to rescue the crew.

"I've got an idea. XO, can we get full access to the _Antietam_'s armory?"

The officer produced a card from his uniform, a simple means of unlocking and locking just about any door with his security clearance. Only him and the CO had the override type of card keys.

"Sure thing. Is it your method?"

"Yes, but it's most likely our only option."

* * *

**Verona Beach Space Tether**

"I hope you're not afraid of heights." Ross Pine said as Eon clung to the side. Here, Eon used nanofiber palms to their gloves and boots to cling onto the outer part of Verona Beach's space elevator. The top station was where the counterweight as well as both the controllers and the hostages were located. Destruction of that would result in the elevator's collapse and the death of more than just who inhabited the massive structure. The counterweight was above the station where the transports would dock and drop off/pick up passengers. The height difference between the two areas was nearly 2,800 feet, higher than Dubai's Burj Khalifa.

That was the theory, as the elevator was just under the height of where gravity would begin to wear off. It was the shortest of New Corsica's five space elevators since it was the least used, mainly for passenger transport to multiple other colonies as well as New York back at Earth. Down below, the lights glowed orange over the shaded areas of the planet, where night had fallen. The daylight showed patches of white, blue and green.

"How's it going up there?" Lusana asked over the channel.

Up near the top, Fowler and Austal were fitting in a few demolition charges. It was their first time they were rigging something with explosives at their strong points so that it couldn't be brought down. Once they had finished, they slowly made their way back down, cautious about their movements, halting slightly above both Lusana and Pine, who were surveying for any activity.

"Rigged to blow anytime."

"Good, let's get this done."

Fowler clicked the detonator, followed by the soft booms from above. The shaft vibrated as the energy traveled through the metal. The charges released parts of the elevator to fall to the bottom. Eon hugged the side as tight as possible before releasing their grip, performing what looked like backflips in slow motion and falling with the debris. Surely the terrorists would detect the falling debris, but they wouldn't be able to see the Spartans coming down alongside.

Eon angled their arms to control their descent as they neared the structure with the controllers and sensors inside. It was similar to skydiving, but this time, none of them had a chute. The closer they got to the planet, the faster they were falling.

"Easy does it." Eon lead told the team. To the right, Austal brushed aside a seven foot piece from taking out his shields. The feeling of freefall was exhilarating, putting in an adrenaline rush that only could be felt in such situation. While some thrived off of it and Eon was taking full force, none of them were planning to make death-defying stunts for recreational purposes today. Everyone had to return alive.

Pine was the closest to their destination and they were less than a thousand feet off, "Jetpack activated."

The thrusters burned a bright yellow as the sudden change brought his descent to a halt. Shortly afterwards, the rest of Eon announced their jetpack deployment. The debris had now fallen past the control area and terminals, but Eon slowed down, landing with a jarring impact on the roof. Other than a slight dip in the shields, they were in good shape.

"Everyone okay?" Lusana asked.

"Fowler's good."

"A OK."

"In one piece."

The team ditched their packs and readied their weapons for the operation. "Alright." Lusana began, "Keep quiet until the control room and nobody tries to be a hero. Got it?"

Eon flashed a burst of green lights through the HUD. It was going to be close quarter gunfights, so the team had much of their gear for that. Pine had the only weapon with somewhat far range, a BR85 battle rifle, most distant targets would be his job.

The emergency airlock was nearby and they quickly entered it before proceeding into the hallways of the station. It was brightly lit, with white painted walls and vivid lighting from the top. A large metal designer plaque welcomed both travelers and employees to the Verona Beach spaceport and space tether. The team crouched down, moving slowly and only when they had another covering their back from hand signals and light flashes.

They arrived at the lobby in front of the control room, where a desk was on the left, which controlled the screening for the control security. A guard with a helmet on stood with an assault rifle.

"I got eyes on three more." Pine reported from his separate point near a pair of bathrooms to the right. "All rifles."

"Eon, we're gonna have to take em out and disable the security." Lusana said, then marked them on his HUD. On all of the Spartan's there was a laserlike line visible to him and his teammates, showing the threat and who had it covered. Austal lined the guard by the station with his M57, indicating that that target would be taken out. If the guard moved, Austal would shift his aim so that it centered on his chest the whole time.

"On your shot."

"I'm ready." Fowler reported. His sight was covered and confirmed.

"Ready." Pine finalized. Lusana lined up his own target and then flashed his light again.

At the same time, all four Spartans fired their weapons, each at one target. The terrorists dropped before any of them could react.

"Kill confirmed."

Austal scanned his tracker and moved to the consoles when no contacts were detected. It took him a few seconds, but he deactivated the security barriers, allowing them to pass through without alerting the control crew or their terrorist handlers.

"Set to breach."

This time, Fowler paired up with Austal on the other side of the room.

"What's the count?" He asked.

"Tracker's showing six hostiles with hostages inside. Pick your targets gentlemen."

Austal had finished placing the breaching charge, sending a green light to Fowler that he was ready. When the green light was sent back to him, he clicked the detonator. The explosives tore through the wall, sending dust outwards. Fowler acted a second later, tossing in a flashbang.

When they heard the high pitched sound of it going off, they swept the room. At the same time, Lusana and Pine had come through the main door. Instantly, they met a couple of surprised gunmen, whom they quickly cut down. Austal trained his sights on one of them who was about to yank one of the controllers as a human shield. The man died as a stream of bullets penetrated his upper chest, dropping in a spray of blood. The hostage fell down, covering his head with his hands as part of a routine when faced with perpetrators against a counter-terror rescue team.

Lusana and Fowler eliminated the rest, who had less than a second later to try their futile acts. During that time, both Ross and Marcus had pulled down a couple of operators nearby to protect them if need be. The room had a large window facing outward that could view the terminal, all awaiting craft as well as those incoming.

"Clear!" Both Spartans had their sidearms aimed in case they had to defend the civilians.

"Oh thank you!" One of the controllers exclaimed, "Thank you so much."

Lusana put the safety back on his weapon, "Don't mention it. Now get the rest of the incoming traffic away from the port."

"Yes sir."

"Cardinal, Eon. The control room has been retaken, all hostiles eliminated."

"Good work Eon." Cardinal complimented, "Stand by for further orders."

Meanwhile Austal and Pine were at the control room, overwatching as the operators directed all traffic to the nearby spaceports of Cravate as well as the moon.

It was here when things started to unwind…fast. One of the controllers was ordering an aircraft, to a separate port when it continued on its course.

"IXD four-zero-two-seven, please change heading by one-seven-zero and proceed to Cravate immediately."

The pilot didn't make a response.

"IXD four-zero-two seven, acknowledge immediately." The operator spoke so fast it took him a minute to figure out the command.

"How long have they gone dark?" Austal asked.

The operator turned around, "I don't know."

From the holo-screen, it said that the designate craft IXD 4027 was at a heading inbound for the docking area. Judging from his perspective, he looked out to the window where displays moved with the aircraft that could be seen. He found the IXD 4027 icon quickly.

"What is?" He was cut off by Cardinal, who seemed panicked and the same conclusion as he did. It seemed that all the controllers and Spartans had deduced the craft's intentions.

"Eon, get out of there!"

"Incoming!" Fowler shouted, startling all inside the room and spurring them into action. "Explosives! Get clear!"

"Go! Go! Go!" Lusana encouraged, waving as quickly as they could. From the display, the unresponsive craft was passing the terminal and gaining velocity straight for the tower. Everybody instantly threw down whatever they were carrying and sprinted towards the door, out as far away from the suicide craft's objective.

The seconds ticked by, but it seemed like hours. The team had just entered the lobby with the operators in tow when a deafening explosion came from behind. Everyone was thrown about. Austal had impacted the solid granite wall when the fireball tore through the air. Shards of metal and stone flew through the air, threatening to pierce anything unarmored. The shields were chipped, a bone crunching feeling of taking rounds at point blank. Then, just as it quickly appeared, the catastrophe vanished.

"Eon status?"

"Eon come in!"

None of the Spartans answered or moved.

* * *

**Did Eon survive? Maybe. Although it probably isn't the death toll is what's catastrophic about this.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	11. Atrocity IV

**UNSC **_**Antietam**_** orbiting Reach**

**August 18, 2557**

Pine groaned as he awakened again. The thoughts of what had happened before being knocked unconscious had suddenly begun swimming back into his mind. The explosion, fleeing with the civilians and then lapsing into the dark as Cardinal had been repeatedly calling for his answer, but with no success. Everyone was too stunned to answer. He moved his fingers and toes around, noticing that his armor had been stripped and he now wore a hospital gown. All twenty digits were intact.

"Ah you're awake." A female voice said from his right.

Pine looked over to see a nurse tending to the IV bag that ran through his arm.

"You're lucky that when we found you, there was nothing except for a few minor cuts where metal had sliced."

"What happened?"

The nurse looked over at the plastic container of clear fluid, "I think I better let someone else tell you that." With it being said, she stepped out of the room.

He had no idea if Lusana, Fowler or Austal had survived the attack. The fact of civilian casualties hung low in the air. There was no telling how many had perished.

The door opened up and a man wearing the four bars of a captain stepped through. Pine casually saluted, even though he was from a different branch. The older person snapped the gesture back and his bluish eyes and gray hair showed a touch of regret, adding to the fatigued features, especially of what had happened merely hours ago.

"Spartan Pine, are you feeling well?"

"I'm alright sir."

"Good." The captain stood up, bowing his head, "At least your team's intact. The myth is still unbroken."

Pine had completely forgotten about the myth of Spartan's air of invulnerability. An ONI regulation designated Spartans as MIA, regardless of actually being slain in battle or otherwise. Done to preserve morale, it would greatly deteriorate if a great Spartan was marked KIA. However Pine wasn't sure if it applied to the Spartan-IVs. They technically weren't Spartans, just augmented normal humans given a set of MJOLNIR armor. The Spartans that were true legends were the ones that had been taken by Halsey and trained to fight since they were just children. Same thing went to the designated class-IIIs, all orphans deemed expendable and cheaper to buy time. In the reports of their encounters with the Covenant, the two groups, Alpha and Beta were successful in their missions, sabotaging crucial Covenant installations, but in turn they had been completely annihilated. There were only two survivors from the Alpha group and a handful from the Beta. The third group, Gamma was into their teens and it was uncertain how many were still alive. Nevertheless, all dead Spartans had been marked as MIA.

That was that separated us from the real Spartans. Pine even recalled a past event of a marine trying to fight him just because he wasn't a real Spartan. Sure the name "Fake Spartan" hurt, but it was true. None of Eon was trained on warfare knowledge as much as the Spartan-IIs and IIIs.

"Most of your team just had minor injuries. That, I'm glad for."

"What's the worst of it?"

"Civilian casualties number over sixty and double that wounded." The number hit him like a hammer. Of course it could've been worse, but it didn't matter for those who didn't make it.

"Awful."

"I'm told you're free once the IV bag's completely gone. Just…" He sighed, closing his eyes, horrified by the atrocity, "Who could've done this?"

Pine normally had warm brown eyes, but when he spoke his answer, both it and his voice was like sharp cold steel, "Someone we're going to kill."

Ross was let out ten minutes later once his IV bag had drained. He was escorted to a pelican where the rest of Eon sat with their heads down. Across the bay, other pelicans were being loaded up with containers with the remains of those who had come from Reach. All three of them had dark objects in front of them. As they moved inside, the speakers came on by the captain's announcement.

"Attention all hands, this is the Captain. Prepare for our return to New Corsica to evacuate all UNSC and UEG officers. I repeat, we are en route once all transports to Reach have left."

"What's going on?" Pine asked a deckhand as he was readying the pelican for liftoff.

"We're going back to evac the embassies and offices at Cravate. Some kind of coup is happening." The Navy man said as he continued to ready supplies.

"Coup?" The questions just continued to grow, even as he settled into the seat.

Lusana watched as the bay got smaller when the pelican began its descent back to Noble. He then picked up the dark object in front. Pine realized that it was his helmet, all scorched, blackened and pretty damaged. He ran his gloved fingers across it, making a couple of marks. Although they were grateful about making it alive, they all felt completely speechless about those whose lives had ended that day. It was certain that before the terrorists attacked, none of them knew that it was their last few hours.

Eon remained silent for the entire trip.

* * *

**Firebase Noble**

"I know things went sideways back there at Verona Beach." Cardinal too seemed a bit shaken by the assault. "Trust me, I never expected something like that to happen, but now with the fallout, things are now much more messy. Venom Wing just came out full force from the shadows. It looks like this was a move that they've been planning for years. They've done a swift takeover of the capital and the colony. All attempts for diplomatic negotiations between New Corsica and Earth had failed and they've cut off all communications. Venom Wing's managed to restore stability in a remarkably short amount of time. The incident at Verona Beach's spaceport was the spark that set off the powder keg of the takeover and now Governor Soir and his cabinet are locked away somewhere down there."

"Sir, permission to go down there and operate to bring down Venom Wing." Lusana saluted.

"Permission denied. It's too risky. Another incident could make the UNSC look even worse and Venom will be pushed deeper into the public's embrace. Resistance forces are fighting back, but they're outgunned, especially with a short resource count. We're not much in a position to do anything about New Corsican politics, instead, we'll be hitting them where they least expect it, doing what good we can. So far, we've identified two of the major players. The first is General Jagardere." Cardinal booted up a holographic dossier of a heavyset man with a hardened look of military service. "He runs the military arm of the coup and is coordinating the relentless assault on the resist groups. The other is the so-called new governor, Julian Maglette. I can't give you permission to engage due to this being out of my command zone. I'm going to have to let you guys go for time off until the UNSC decides to get its head over the decision."

* * *

Later in the day, the four Spartans exited the base's main gates, before driving back home. Pine had continued to hold a small get-together with their families at his home later that evening, which everyone agreed to. So Lusana had gone with him to get the food trays. Fowler and Austal returned to their own places of residence.

Austal took a quick shower, finally managing to finish the installation. Flipping through the channels, he passed some time, especially to reflect on that had happened throughout the week. The tolls of the mass murder at the spaceport was not lost in his mind. In addition, there was another thing he had to do before going to a temporary get-together. It was only a matter of time before Eon went out to hunt down the hidden menace, so he wanted to maximize his leisure time and his own personal life.

The comlink buzzed for a little bit before the other line opened up.

"Hello?"

"Hello Gabrielle."

"Oh hi Marcus." Even though he couldn't see her, he could tell that her attitude must have perked up between her two lines spoken. They had exchanged phone numbers their second time meeting simply because she had needed someone else to call besides her two other friends that he had yet to meet. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good." If he counted having a burden of sixty lives dead because he was too slow as good, then he was lying. "Just checking in to see if you're alright."

She let out a short laugh, "I'm fine. Are you finally able to rest at home? You must be really tired."

"Maybe, but that's not why I called." He paused, careful about hiding his true occupation, "Some of my co-workers will be having a bit of a party and we're allowed to bring friends. Would you like to come along?"

"Uhh are you sure it's safe?"

"Of course it is." He said. Over the few times he had spent time with her, he always knew that she was quite nervous. It wasn't just him, but many unfamiliar things. He saw a bit of himself in her uncertainty, although not to her degree. He knew exactly what she was worried about, "They are all my friends and are responsible people. I promise that they won't hurt you."

"Well," She sounded very far off, the tolls of whatever work she had going on finally bringing her down. Or it was something else. He had no idea. "I guess. Work's been quite hard and hectic. Besides, you've been gone for a while and I really want to spend time with you and catch up."

"Of course." His heart rate increased a little, "I'll pick you up in front of the studio? It's on the way to my friend's house."

"Okay. I'll tell Kate that I have my own way home tonight. Are you sure you won't mind?" Kate must be one of the fellow employees or a friend of hers.

"If I did, I wouldn't have let you know. See you in a bit."

Gabrielle was waiting for him when he pulled his jeep to the side of Westbrook Photography Studios. It was a small modern building that was seated at the end of a series of shops and bordered by a sushi bar. The studio was small, with most of it being space for shooting and a handful of offices for the employees. The bright red and white logo was shut off since she was the last one to leave.

Upon seeing him pull up, Gabrielle did a double check on the security, being the last to leave that day and walked up to join him. She barely had enough time to secure herself in his passenger seat before he was already on the highway, mashing on the gas pedals to merge with the speeding traffic. The interior was clean and absent of any odors, which he had considered standard, as he couldn't stand being his previous car's interior that reeked of cigarettes and coffee, courtesy of the previous owner. The lights on the dashboard were a dark bluish glow and she saw a wrapped bottle of wine in the center compartment.

"How are you doing?" He asked as he pulled back onto the nearby highway. Instantly, he turned his head not to just look at her, but also to check the traffic, since he was attempting to merge into another lane. She wore a black dress that ran down to her mid thighs. Her hair seemed to shine in the dim light and he noticed a small gold piece of jewelry on her neck. It was as if she had brought all the things necessary to go to one of these gatherings, although Marcus believed that dressing up was the employee code of Westbrook. He'd seen their advertisements and knew that they were on the higher end.

"Just another busy day. Thank goodness that I happen to have the rest of the week off." She let out a sigh of relief, "It's just been so busy. What about you?"

"A busy schedule finds me too."

"Did you hear about the horrible things that had happened back home?" He realized that she was talking about the colony world they shared, a place that he had been familiarized again since leaving when he was only nine. If only she knew, his awareness of the shit going down there was probably way more than what the press got…and interpreted.

"Over sixty dead," There was no need to repeat the information that was flooding every news caster following the attack. All of those innocent souls of men, women and children who had long promising lives in front of them, snuffed out just because a power-hungry organization wanted control of one of the most valuable of the UNSC colonies. New Corsica had the fortune of being one of the few major inner planets to escape the fatal bombings of the Covenant, which was what likely saved Gabrielle from death. He had no idea if she had any family, as his previous attempt to pry for the subject was met with silence. However, the time would come when he would ask.

Austal exited off another suburban area to New Alexandria's southern area. The homes here were cozy and reminded him a bit of the houses back in New Corsica's richer districts as well. Although not as large as a mansion, they maintained a hybrid of Californian, Arabian and Mediterranean style architecture on the outside. Typical home back in Cravate or Verona Beach was the temperate exterior, with a modern and vibrant interior. The style made each home unique and highly appealing. Austal always wanted one of these types of homes when he planned to retire or start a family.

He easily found the house that he was looking for, pulling the jeep beside an onyx 2558 Capri Dragon that had a fiery orange appearance from the front. Anybody in the 37th could easily see Fowler's car, but it as everybody that would hear it before having a visual. The Dragon was among the fastest cars unmodified.

Austal knocked on the door and was greeted by an older man who shared his sharpness. They exchanged pleasantries and he showed them the wine that he had brought. Spartan Ross Pine let him in, where he was embraced by his wife.

Gabrielle reluctantly followed him inside, casting a look of distrust at Eon's sniper. He, however remained unchanged, giving a reassuring smile that managed to calm her down. Her heartrate was oddly quite rapid. Austal had never said that his friends were all taller than him.

"So you gonna introduce us?" The man who called himself Ross Pine elbowed Marcus.

"Oh right." He let out a faint smile, "This is my friend Gabrielle Addison. She's a photographer at Westbrook and my next door neighbor."

"Um hello." She suddenly felt flustered, excusing herself and slipping between the gap of Austal and Pine. She cursed for the anxiousness creeping up again. Although it wasn't a psych disorder, she still had no idea why it never happened near Austal. Pine's wife saw her make a beeline away from the crowd and did a no-brainier of showing the location of the nearest bathroom. The two Spartans watched her go. When Pine looked at Austal for an explanation, he had none. He said nothing, but already mentally communicated with Marcus that she was both quite a looker and a lucky find for him.

"She going to be alright?" Eon three asked.

Austal watched after her, not taking his eyes off until she had shut the bathroom door. "I hope so."

* * *

**With the major enemies of the 37th identified and New Corsica under control of its ultranationalist rebel group, Eon is now helpless to do anything about it. The only strategy here is to simply just wait and see when the top brass decide to get their heads together and put these Spartans to make those bastards run off, tail between the legs and all.**

**I apologize once again for the delayed update. For some reason, I can not get a solid connection to the Internet.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	12. Thoughts I

**Ross Pine's residence, New Alexandria**

**August 18, 2557**

Inside the bathroom, Gabrielle Addison was heavily panting. Sweat began to form at what skin lay exposed and her heart was beating at the rate of a machine gun. This was not the time for things like that. Still, she was extremely surprised to see their host, Ross Pine to be taller than Marcus…and he was a big man.

She found herself examining her face in the mirror, suddenly self-conscious on how she looked. She was disheveled, noticing small things that clung to her dress fabric. She frowned as she worked to dust them off. Guests were partially showing how friends and family were reflected upon the host. She definitely didn't want to disappoint his image.

"Gabrielle are you alright?" Austal's voice came from the other side. He wasn't directly in front of the door and hadn't opened it, despite her leaving it unlocked. In reality, Austal or any of Eon would probably be able to rip it off its sockets with their bare hands. However, the wood was expensive and difficult to get, so people treated it with deliberate prudence.

"Yeah I'm okay." She actually wasn't sure herself. Taking a deep breath, the door was opened to reveal Marcus holding out a chalice filled with a ruby colored drink. Over at the table where he and two other large men sat were an open bottle and a corkscrew with the wood still inside. It was the wine he had bought at a liquor store before he had picked her up.

She took it, holding the stem with her gentle hands before eying his two companions with a bit of suspicion.

"Relax," Marcus assured her, "We didn't poison it."

Normally she associated larger types of people, both men and women as boisterous and rowdy. Basically the ones who telegraphed their presence and quickly became that of unfavorable especially in bars. However, Austal seemed to be just like the two others, Fowler and Pine. Sure Eon loved to drink and they could be just like any UNSC personnel when having their hands on alcohol, but the difference was that they were responsible enough to restrain their intake of the intoxicating beverage. They had to be. Eon and the other fireteams maintained a pristine notch for its operatives, both on and off the field.

"Okay." She took an approving sip, smiling when the flavors seemed to perfectly compliment anyone who drank it. She wasn't a big person on alcohol, but it was enjoyable, with wine, cocktails and spirits at the top and beer at the very bottom. The latter stuff disgusted her. Before she knew it, she was talking with another few women, who had introduced herself as Ross Pine's wife along with several other associates with some of the men.

Back at where Eon sat on couches, Tony Lusana leaned back with a relaxed sigh, casually observing each team member around him.

Brett Fowler was just his normal self. His extrovert attitude when socializing came naturally and he always had a story to tell. Even Lusana found himself being intrigued by his time of an ODST during the Second Battle of New Mombasa and finding nearly seventy thousand credits in a shipping container. Most likely a drug dealing or smuggling, but he sent the money back to the UEG, not before pocketing enough to make a substantial step to his desired Capri Dragon. He had an arrogant and snide attitude, which complimented the opinion voicing that he did freely. Sure, his mouth would have surely gotten him into trouble, more than he bargained for, but he seemed to keep himself in check. That still didn't stop him from teasing Austal from time to time.

Ross Pine was just happy to play host. It had been a while since Eon had a reunion and could carry on casual conversations while not on base or the thick of combat. It felt good not having to always talk about plans of how to blow up the enemy or evac what could be the last chance of survival. Pine and his wife of a few years sure had a taste for his home, a cozy dark wooded atmosphere with stainless steel appliances and plenty of lighting to give the place life. He announced that the two of them were expecting their first child soon, possibly in January of 2558. Lusana knew that Pine would always be a reliable squadmate. While he wasn't the best sniper that ever lived or the stealthiest, he had a trustworthy sense. While the other two could be just as good, there was something Pine had that neither of Eon's other members possessed. He was only in his thirties while Eon lead himself was going to hit forty very soon. However, the prospect of age never really sank upon the Spartans.

Marcus Austal remained just as cheerful and eager as ever. Of all the Eon members, he was the only one who was not an ODST before being a Spartan. The kid was only twenty two years old and already knew how to be independent. It was quite rare to run into a Spartan in their early twenties, in a covert unit even less likely. However, Lusana had been eying the young Spartan's potential before he even knew about the 37th. Neither he nor Austal knew what had exactly made him accepted into the unit, but it was a smart move. He turned out to be an invaluable squadmate, associating easily with both Fowler and Pine and following Lusana's orders with flexibility that could sometimes save their backs if need be. That still left out his relationship status. Lusana had convinced Cardinal to keep him in the unit until the crisis with his homeworld of New Corsica was dealt with. Once it was finished, he would be reevaluated, this time, not on the military skills he brought to the team. Tony had no idea if he had any family. Since his so called ex-girlfriend had called off their relationship, he was reluctant to really talk about his personal life.

Everyone knew that Gabrielle was the one that he had brought to the party. As far as he was concerned, she was the closest thing to a family member he had known, besides his team.

"Well you certainly picked a good one." Fowler must've finished telling his story about the New Mombasa jackpot. He cast an approving look at Gabrielle, who was talking with Maria, his fiancée. "When's the wedding and first kid's birthdate?"

Pine rolled his eyes, "He just met her days ago, give him a break."

"Hey, I'm just trying to make things comfortable. After all we can't just lose him just cause he doesn't have a girlfriend."

"You're one to talk Fowler." Austal sipped his glass of wine, "How about we delve into your love life?"

"Guys." Lusana interrupted, silencing all three Spartans. "We've got quite a situation here, with Austal's new girl being probably the least of our worries. No offense." He looked at him.

"None taken."

"Good." The matter was somewhat settled. "I think this takeover of New Corsica is going to hit the UNSC and UEG hard. Much harder than they anticipate. As much as this would be against protocol, who here would go on a mission off the grid to bring down Venom Wing?"

The silence between the group was heavy in the air, none of the women had noticed that they had ceased talking.

"I for one don't think it's a good idea." Pine finally said, "A dangerous thing, since we don't know much about our enemy. Plus we risk getting a court-martial."

"Sir." Austal added, "As much as I want to keep my homeworld in good hands like the UNSC and bring these fuckers down, I fear it would be a much more disastrous step. We deploy when we are supposed to."

Fowler nodded, "We don't even have weapon access unless authorized by a mission."

"I wholeheartedly agree. Even though Hades denied my permission to orbitally drop in." Eon lead said, "We'd just have to wait until Cardinal or someone from up top comes with something we need to do."

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now let's enjoy dinner."

* * *

"Thanks for inviting me." Gabrielle said as they made their way up the steps. The gathering ended late at night and Marcus drove home as cautious as possible. Driving with alcohol in the bloodstream resulted in serious consequences and now the law enforcement was always finding ways to catch someone under the influence. Thankfully, they managed to get home safely without incident and he was now showing her back to her apartment.

"You're welcome. It was really fun."

"You know." She stopped past the threshold of the entrance, "I'm just…well..concerned."

"Concerned?"

"Yeah." She hugged her chest tightly, probably from the cold air. Marcus was shivering too, so he automatically shut the door. "It's only been about a week since I've met you and it's odd. I'm just really concerned about you for some reason. It seems like your job is very dangerous."

"Well it is. However, I usually know the dangers well enough to avoid them." With the new Venom Wing hostiles back at New Corsica, he suddenly wasn't so sure of that. He shifted nervously, taking an initiative to change the subject. "Gabrielle, I've always wanted to ask this question because it's puzzled me very much."

She looked at him; deep blue eyes met his steel gray.

"Why are you so nervous around me? Are you even?"

Perhaps he had worded it wrongly, but it seemed the question had stung. Sure, he had seen her be afraid of him, but he never knew that would extend to his fellow Spartans. It was just getting to the point where she was beginning to warm up to him. Suddenly, he began to regret what he had just asked.

"It's a long story." She softly said nodding. Scared of him, but why?

"I'm all ears."

"Well I was born in Cravate, where the first few years of my life were endorsed with happiness, love and care. I had a loving mother and an excellent older sister, Jacqueline who had died when I was only seven. We had a suburban house in the west side of where weather was perfect and the neighbors were as friendly as you could get."

It sounded like a perfect kind of life to raise a family. In the time he had known her, Austal had never heard Gabrielle mention any other members of her family. He already knew an epiphany was approaching.

"My father was sort of always distant in my life. I knew that he and my mother never really got along very well, even before Jacqueline's death. It was several months afterwards when it all had started to really fall apart."

Marcus saw her wipe a tear unashamedly from her eyes. "I noticed by father being more aggressive to my mother. There were times where he would hit her and me if I was nearby or if he found me. I didn't know why he did it but during my young age, suspected it to be of what he drank; now knowing it was alcohol abuse. My mother would often tell me to stay away from him and like-minded people. My mother died when I was seventeen and I had to endure even more of his anger until I was old enough to gather what money I could and live anew." It seemed legitimate; the apartment was at a decent price. Not the most expensive, but not cheap, plus it was located in a rather good part of the city.

"Ah." It seemed to click for Austal, just like he had expected, "You're afraid because I'm a bigger person?"

"Well I associated most men just like my father, as basically people who'd want to do me harm. I never really had friends who were boys. Sure I was on the attention list for some of the guys, but I had always known that they were after beer and sex."

"I'm sorry." He softly said.

"Don't be. After all, you've been great for what you've done for me. Even going to that party with all of your large friends was really the first time I had really talked to guys. "

"In the meantime, I finally got this job at Westbrook where I've worked ever since. The output is nice, a good salary and something I really like doing." She pulled over a tablet and showed Austal a few pictures. Some of them were just events that Westbrook had sent her to cover. It ranged from simple static images of sports teams to a holo-still of a wedding. Nonetheless, he failed to find anyone in them that wasn't really smiling.

"And here's my personal gallery."

She brought up various images of herself. While she didn't have the physique of a fashion model, Austal had to give her credit of being close to one. Many of the content here would never really be featured on the sides of department store ads. Most images had her hands on hips with some dress that was probably a hit on whatever women who idolized the models who wore that. Another one had her lying on her back covered with black blankets. For someone who was shy around others, men especially, the pictures were quite a shock.

"Enough about me." She let him take one last look at the picture before switching it off and setting it aside. "What's your life story?"

Oh boy, it was fair nonetheless. He took a deep breath and a moment to remember all that had happened in his life.

"Like you, I was born in Cravate. I was an only child to my parents who were diplomats to the CAA, so making friends was essential for me. I remember two of them who I believe are still back there. However, our family moved, which broke those friendships apart. We settled back in Las Vegas on Earth when the Covenant was still at war with humanity. It was clear that my parents' wealth had put their careers in front of me as a priority." He tried his best to remain stoic as possible, but still felt tears welling up in his eyes. Especially in front of a woman that he cared much about already, this was not the time to break down. After all, he didn't feel for his parents right?

"We were on Los Angeles when I was around thirteen years old when they died from a gas outbreak in the lobby. I remember myself in an argument with my parents, over what I don't know. But that caused them to tell me to stay in the room while they picked up something to eat. Needless to say, being belligerent had indirectly saved my life. I was later found that day and put into an orphanage, where I applied to a special recon group as soon as I could and have held that position ever since."

That was only partially true. He joined the Spartans after they had seen his impressive record.

"Your story is horrible too." Gabrielle suddenly moved forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his chest. Caught off guard, Austal relaxed after a couple of seconds and put his around her likewise.

"It's not as bad as yours. I feel fortunate for the times it could have been worse. What really counts is what we do afterwards. Like you, I try my best to put it behind and move on, but the scar still remains. You've got to stay strong, no matter what life throws at you. Trust me, it's challenging."

"It does." Austal got up to leave when she stopped him at the door. "Marcus, thank you for everything."

He nodded, smiling. "You're welcome."

* * *

**Them feels...Don't worry, there's still much more action to go. Eon has yet to go back and kick Venom Wing's asses.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone. You give my writing purpose.**


	13. Thoughts II

**Briarton Mall, New Alexandria, Reach**

**August 22, 2557**

"That's everything." Gabrielle Addison said as she took the bag from the clerk. She briskly walked outside where Marcus Austal waited with a few bags of his own things. He had prepared to get going to the mall for a few items when she caught him reversing the jeep. A few words of her own for stuff at the mall ended up with them going together. Besides, she felt comfortable with him walking beside. They didn't really attract any attention, save for others subconsciously steering clear of his large frame. However, his easygoing smile put others at ease. A mind of a gentle giant maybe.

They were headed back to his car when someone was driving behind them. Since he parked on the left side, they moved over, opening the back so that they could put their bags inside. Gabrielle's comlink started buzzing so she climbed inside the vehicle since the engine drowned out any sound she made to the other line.

"Hello?"

"Gabrielle! So nice to hear you!"

"Madeline?" Marcus turned in his seat, "What are you doing?"

"Oh you know," Her cheerful voice was picked up by Austal, thanks to his augmented hearing. "Just finding some time to spend with my two best friends. Where have you been? I've tried to call you all day?"

"Probably in the bunker walls of the shopping center."

"Oh, well do you want to go somewhere for lunch? Both Kate and I have some time off."

"Um, sure." She looked at Marcus. "Is it okay if I bring a friend?"

"Sure, who is it?"

"Marcus."

"Your boyfriend?! Of course he can come!"

"He's not-" Gabrielle stopped her retort, knowing he might hear it, but it seemed he was too busy concentrating on the traffic. In reality, he could easily tell where the conversation dialogue was going.

"Tell them this," He said after a few more seconds elapsed, "I'll pick the place where we eat."

"He says that he knows a place where we can eat." After Marcus gave her the name and place, she relayed it to her friends. They gave a smile that carried over the line and they hung up.

"What was the stuff you had to get at the mall?" She asked once the call ended.

He hefted the bag, containing a bottle of champagne and a white boxlike appliance container. It was a bread maker. "Stuff for my buddy's wedding. A toast liquid and a present."

Austal drove for fifteen minutes before he pulled over to a cozy style building that housed an Arabic and Mediterranean café. This section of Reach was beginning to develop for homes and shopping centers for future residents. The fields remained open, strangely devoid of any glass that would have been bombarded when the fortress world had fallen. Already there were a trio of model homes, single and double story that were on display to the public who were willing to cash in for a lot.

"Are your friends here yet?"

Gabrielle looked around and shook her head, "Madeline drives one of those fancy Genets that's dark blue."

"So I guess we wait." Austal removed his datapad, checking to see if Lusana or Cardinal had sent him a message. Nothing. He felt a pang of frustration, but it wasn't either Spartan's faults. More of the UEG's for sitting on their asses and debating so that the officers could remain in control. Meanwhile, the Venom Wing Party will spread their hardlining ideals to other somewhat shaky colonies and BAM! Another anti-UNSC coalition is formed. All of that could be prevented if Eon and the UNSC responded.

However it could be a totally different reason. Perhaps a forceful response could deteriorate the situation enough for something worse to happen. All of Eon was frustrated. They had their jobs to do. Austal didn't really have any other skills, since the war took away what resources he had for a civilian life. Sure, his parents could afford to send him to the richest school on Earth and they did. However, that lasted so long and the orphanage he was put in limited his options even more. Enlisting in the military and serving post-war was the only ace that he had. Getting into the Spartan-IV program was really a breakthrough. Not only did he get to serve as a commando, but the pay grade was higher. Not everyone was fit enough to don the MJOLNIR armor.

"There they are." Gabrielle interrupted his thoughts and he slipped his datapad back in the pockets of his shorts. The dark blue Genet pulled up to a parking spot beside his jeep and two women opened the doors. He watched as they moved over, Gabrielle already out of the car to greet them.

They embraced warmly, first with a longer blonde haired woman who seemed more outgoing. A big smile never seemed to fade from her face and she took full advantage of her low cut clothing by wearing brightly colored jewelry. She was dressed in a green blouse that almost covered the short skirt. Her radiant blue eyes were enough to make most men melt, but Austal remained stoic. Sure, she was definitely an attractive woman.

The other girl was much more reserved. Like her friend, she also wore a blouse, this time dark red and she had a close cropped hairstyle. There was a ruby hanging in a necklace and she sported silver lined sunglasses. Austal observed a glint of a silver ring on her finger. So she was married…he wondered why the other one wasn't. Surely there have been suitors in the past. He dismissed the thoughts from his mind and recycled the message tab on his datapad. Still nothing.

"This is my next door neighbor Marcus Austal."

On queue, he rose out of the driver's seat walking over and stopping by his friend. He guessed the women had seen him before, although he had no memory of them meeting. However, the one thing he enjoyed and never got old was how they marveled at him. Either it was for looks or his height. To normal people, all Spartans were tall, himself included. When it came to Spartans judging heights, he tended to be on the shorter side.

"It's nice to meet you." Kate stepped up, a hint of nervousness in her eyes. If only he truly knew how much his height intimidated others. She stuck her hand out and he gently grasped it, giving a shake.

Madeline came next, but before he could extend his own hand, she threw his arms around his torso and pulled him into a bear hug that would've probably expelled his breakfast if it was still in his stomach.

"Gabrielle, he's perfect for you."

She blushed in response.

"Now how about we head inside for some lunch? I'm hungry."

The four of them had settled at a table and ordered their food. Conversations were mainly directed at Austal and Gabrielle, especially how they met. Matchmaker Madeline was already suggesting ideas for the future couple. Of course, the latter was already rebuffing any prospect of them being together.

Marcus just wanted to be back in the field. Sure, spending time with Gabrielle and her friends was really nice, but being out in battle, stealthily infiltrating back on New Corsica to strike fear into the Venom Wing was what he really longed for.

"Marcus, why did you choose this place?" Kate asked as they were served their food. Marcus and Gabrielle both had slow cooked Saudi Arabian style lamb with seasoned rice. Madeline had Moroccan chicken while Kate settled with a curried wrap.

"Food is one of my secret loves. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do, as well as travel places to enjoy edibles that are foreign to me."

"Really?" Madeline beamed at him again. Gabrielle smiled at her, but in reality she was getting rather annoyed at her indirect advances. It wasn't hard to tell that she had a huge crush on the Spartan.

She bumped in, "What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?"

"Oh." Marcus sat back as he chewed a mouthful of lamb, his expression pleased at savoring the flavors, "Probably the whale sashimi." He smirked when the girls made a bit of a disgusted face. Yeah, he had eaten some interesting things before.

"It's alright. I didn't mean to gross you out." Days ago, he had been threatened to be dismissed from the 37th because of his relation absence. Now if they could see him, taking three beautiful girls out to lunch. Things have changed.

"Gabrielle told me that you've been her friends ever since intermediate school."

"That's right." Kate answered, "We studied together, played together and even were on the high school volleyball team together. That is until her father became more influenced on her life."

She sighed, "He's the last person I want alive right now. I just hope I never see him again." He saw tears glisten in her eyes and gently put an arm around her shoulders.

"You look so cute together." Madeline whispered.

"Wedding's tomorrow." He replied sarcastically.

They finished their food and he left after paying and bid goodbye to her friends. Kate smiled as she got in the car and her flirty friend tried another before he already put Gabrielle in the car and started the engine.

Man he couldn't wait to get back to work.

* * *

**Not my best chapter...or longest. However, I wanted to put some time between a combat scene and a civilian scene. Don't worry, they'll be back in the field next chapter.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.**


	14. Revolution I

**UNSC **_**Antietam**_** orbiting New Corsica**

**August 23, 2557**

Hades looked around once every Spartan was now clustered around the table, all clad in their onyx shaded MJOLNIR armor and weapons casually held at their sides. Since Cardinal was still at Reach, his fragment aboard the single terminal on the destroyer acted as the liaison between command and the operating team. "Okay Eon. Venom Wing has bolstered their defenses around Cravate, protecting both Jagardere and Maglette as they continue their spread for complete control of the colony. They've maintained a communications blackout to other colonies and any attempt to contact them has not been successful."

He played a short tune on his guitar, a new design of blood streaks that roughly was drawn in the word "death". "There are quite a few resistance forces that are fighting back, but they're short on supplies and aren't organized enough to be much of a real threat. They have the potential, but ONI's still searching for a leader for the job. By the time you get back, they may be finished. You'll be deep inside a danger area with no room for error. UNSC ships have already been threatened with surface to orbital strikes if attempting to interfere. We'll drop you in. A convoy is rolling towards a mile long bridge over the scenic C falls. Forces loyal to General Jagardere have taken control of the bridge and we believe that they are planning to smoke it when the supply vehicles cross. We need you to secure and hold the bridge so that the convoy can cross."

"Roger that Hades."

"That's all I've got for now. Dismissed."

* * *

**New Corsica**

"Eon, this is Hades. The bridge is about a kilo ahead. There's Venom crawling all over it. It looks like they plan to blow out the support columns."

"We're on it. Eon out."

The scenic C falls were definitely on the must-see list when being tourist. Similar to the Niagra back in the URNA, the C shaped edge flowed nearly one and a half times of its Earth counterpart's output. Although they couldn't see it, they definitely heard a constant roar that sounded far away, from thousands of tons of water dropping nearly two hundred feet into the river below.

A long suspension bridge spanned the two sides of the C shaped monument, featuring two lanes per direction and several walkways that spread out and underneath the structure to offer unique views.

However, no tourists walked the walkways and no cars moved on the roads. Eon would have heard both if they were. The planet didn't suffer a Covenant invasion, but the absence of civilians was eerie.

All along the sides of the main road were filled with shops, restaurants and other buildings that housed entertainment. All were deserted, now replaced by men armed with assault rifles and wearing Venom patches on their shoulders, casually patrolling or idly standing. There was no doubt that any UNSC personnel spotted would be instantly shot on sight. What they didn't know was that not everyone loyal to the UNSC on this planet was dead or locked up in prison.

"I got eyes on a hostile sniper."

"Can you confirm?"

"He's at the end of the road, over by the entrance to the casino."

This time, both Pine and Austal had sniper rifles and pistols due to the more open spaces and longer range combat they were predicting. They were under strict orders to keep silent, but they definitely had the tools to snuff anyone, long or close range.

"That makes four targets." Lusana highlighted them from his position, prone on the ground a few meters from their right. Eon was behind three cars that had been parked for a while. It was a quick observation of the Venom terrorists. It proved that these guys weren't moving anytime soon, at least until the relief supply convoy would arrive and they'd stage an ambush or disappear.

Fowler's line was set to the closest, as his carbine had the shortest range. Lusana trained his battle rifle on the next guard. Austal and Pine had the furthest two, deploying their bipod on the car's top to have a steady shot. The camo generator continued to function.

Lusana blinked a green light, within half a second, Eon all fired simultaneously, dropping all four targets.

"Tangos down."

"I'm reloading."

Eon moved up the street, eyes open for any more patrols. The area was strangely devoid of anyone else, despite being a thriving community. Tourism was a heavy industry for the colony and a main reason for its growing economy and population.

"Hold." Pine was at point holding up a fist. He put two fingers together in the air and made an arcing motion. The team had then switched off com channels, with only the point man being able to talk. The rest had to go to hand signals and acknowledgement lights.

True to his word, they heard the engine noises over the fall's roar. The crisp gray outline of a swallow gunship flew briskly overhead, disappearing behind the roofs of the buildings.

"Hostile's got air support."

Three acknowledgement lights blinked in response. "Alright." Lusana broke the silence, "Take a knee gentleman and check your gear." The team found a quiet corner to catch a break, around a parking lot to decloak after surveying for hostiles, which they had found none. Every Spartan checked his gear, reloading and arming if necessary.

"Pine, I have point."

"Eon lead has point." After Pine vocalized the confirmation, two more lights blinked from Fowler and Austal, confirming that they were aware as well.

"We're gonna split up and traverse through the sides of the buildings until we reach the bridge. From there, we're going to take the maintenance span to where the bombs are supposedly at. Austal, you're with me on the right. Pine, take Fowler and sweep left. Rendezvous at the entrance. If you need assistance, flash your lights."

A quiet chorus of "Copy." Followed, with the group splitting up silently after. Moving like wraiths, the Spartans quickly covered the ground of the buildings, always moving up when the other had his back covered. Sure any Spartan fireteam was a force to be reckoned with, but the 37th moved seamlessly enough that communication verbally didn't have to be used. This type of teamwork had to be worked on for some time and it usually took a 37th team a couple of weeks before they were all synchronized. They had nothing on the Spartan-IIs and IIIs. Those individuals had been trained since children to fight. Lusana had no doubt that even Eon would be able to win a war game against a Spartan II or III squad. However, that remained to be seen.

"I see a hostile."

They didn't need to draw the second patrol's attention and quietly stuck to the sidewalk, only moving when the green light from their teammates were lit, indicating that he had his back. The sneaking was for a few more minutes before Lusana halted at a concrete platform that preceded the long span in front.

"Alright. Hades just informed me that we have untraceable comms. Nobody can listen in except us and him."

"Roger that."

Austal and Pine knelt down at the concrete barrier, knocking over the caution sign of falling over. They cocked the sniper rifles and set the bipods on the edge. The stable firing position allowed for greater optimizing shots. Although the range could cover roughly a third of the entire bridge span, there really was no range on HUD marking of distant hostiles. The real danger Austal and Pine had to be wary of was the wind.

There was only one support column within firing range and both snipers had centered their scopes on it in seconds. The newest Misriah SRS99-S5 was the most advanced sniper rifle ever fielded, surpassing the older SRS99 models which had been phased out ever since. The S5 version had exceptional performance, with the anti-material rounds being able to easily punch through heavily shielded and high density armored enemies alike. The weapon's boxlike compensators at the barrel had been removed, with the attachment in the pouches. Instead, a long cylindrical suppressor was fitted onto the barrel, this one also compatible with the older rifles as well.

The maintenance catwalks that lined the columns were partially obscured by mist from the falls. It fell downwards, circling like dark gray ivy that clung to the side. To compensate for their limited visibility, both snipers activated their metallic scopes, a prototype vision that highlighted metal objects in white while keeping all else black.

"I have eyes on hostiles patrolling explosives on the column." Pine reported.

"Roger that." Lusana replied, "Austal, stay and provide overwatch on the bridge's other side."

"I'm on it." With the flicker of his camo distortion, he left the side and crouched to the other lane of the bridge. Several times, he had to halt and wait until the Venom soldiers split up.

This particular pair wasn't going anywhere.

"Austal let me know when you're in position." Lusana and Fowler were on disarming duty. They had to go down and disable those explosives, which meant that he had to cover his angle at the column, where there were doubtlessly more explosives rigged to the side.

"Give me a second." In just that time, he had already visualized his move and made it. A9 in hand, he put a round down the man on the right and was on top of his partner before he even heard the sound of the muffled gunshot. His black plated knife slipped out of his sheath, waving as an extension to his arm and he drove the blade right into the back of his victim's neck. Blood squirted from the wound, all over the uniform. He was already moving, sliding the knife back when it finally stopped.

"In position." He whispered, just as he dropped the bipod and looked through his tunnel vision on the scope.

A suppressed flurry of gunshots came from the front of the bridge, Lusana and Fowler had just eliminated a trio of enemies at the beginning. "He's down."

"I'm moving." Fowler shifted his position, flashing his green light when he was in a good area to cover.

"Lead moving."

"Ears on a hostile air. Swallow class." Pine spoke.

Austal looked around, finally seeing a second swallow gunship moving over the bridge and then stopping near the closer column. The gun mounted on the aircraft's chin pivoted from side to side as the operator searched for any targets.

"Eon lead, hold position." He said, "That gunship is sweeping your area."

Lusana found cover behind an overturned truck and peered through the cracks. The gunship continued to hold position, although now was making small movements. Down at the span, both Spartans could feel a slight downwash from the engine rotors. Pine knew that his sniping partner was looking at the gunship and took a moment to survey his nearby surroundings. A guard had meandered nearby and he judged that he would've been detected if he didn't scan for another thirty seconds. He calmly raised his own pistol, an M6G equipped with a suppressor and fired. The first round caught the hostile in the chest and he stumbled, confused.

Pine was used to scoring a kill with the first shot and it was usually done with a sniper rifle, so the nonlethal blow struck him oddly. He still didn't take any chances, putting two more downrange; as he was too close to fire his rifle. The guard fell, slumped right against a green car. After that engagement, Pine took another deep breath, making a face when he had a whiff of the recycled air. His heart rate was fired up and he needed his sniper focus to be just as sharp.

"Eon Lead, you're clear to descend down the catwalks." Ross continued to watch as a few other armed guards roamed that area. "You've got hostiles patrolling beneath, taking them out."

Austal flashed his green light, steadying his aim on one of them that was in his sight, but the barriers and column would obscure Pine's view.

He pulled the trigger, dropping the first guard, followed by Pine's shot that took out a guard on his side.

His lips curled into a smile when they looked around, all suddenly alert and scared.

"I love that feeling." Pine echoed before sniping the last man on his side.

Austal saw some mist moving in, so he killed the last one before it completely covered, although no match for his metallic sight.

"Clear."

"Roger that. We're hooking up." He panned upwards, Lusana and Fowler attached their rappelling lines and quickly descended, spreading out once they hit the bottom. A couple of men that the snipers had missed were casually walking up when they discovered their dead.

Neither of the Spartans let them find out. Lusana hosed the first one with his SMG while Fowler had seized the other struggling man and hurled him over the edge. He dropped several hundred feet before hitting the water with a deadly splash.

"Dropped em."

"Literally." Pine added, causing everyone except Lusana to laugh out loud.

"Let's get those bombs disarmed."

* * *

**Back in the action!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.**


	15. Revolution II

**Sieged City of Ville de Lombard, New Corsica**

**August 23, 2557**

Ville de Lombard translated into French as "City of Lombard". The name held its origins in Italy and France, both dominant cultures on the colony. The majority of New Corisca's population was of French or Italian descent or even a mix. While the city's name was spoken in French, the Lombard part was Italian.

Ville de Lombard was the fourth largest city on the colony, home to just under a million people. The western side ran along the Ortob river, which would eventually open into the scenic C Falls.

Architecture had varied from traditional Milan style of buildings found in the Lombard region of Italy back on Earth had dominated the city center. Further inwards were a small cluster of futuristic skyscrapers with the tallest being an obsidian office tower of forty stories. Ville de Lombard was also highly known for its own style of wines, differing from the rest of the colony. It was always emphasis on the wine, especially here on New Corsica, definitely reputable.

Ville de Lombard was now a warzone. With civilians either dead from the crossfire or fleeing the city, the smoke rising had obscured anyone from observing what carnage occurred inside. An organized resistance effort was making a stand on the city, as it controlled a vast amount of resources if anyone hoped to topple the Venom Wing's regime. The high number of the ultranationalist group's military had sent in armored divisions to occupy the city center, while squads of swallow attack gunships prowled from above, attacking any rebel sighted. Meanwhile, scores of heavily armed troops were on the frontlines, engaged in the unconventional warfare against the surprisingly resilient opposition.

It was only a matter before this group was put down as well. General Jagardere had smiled back in his Cravate office when his lead officers in charge of the assault announced their victory in a matter of hours. The UNSC would be too late to save them, if they ever responded.

* * *

**C Falls, New Corsica**

Spartan Brett Fowler whistled lowly as he looked at the multiple detonators of C-12 explosives all stuck in various places of the bridge. A simple 4 inch cube was enough to destroy a 5 story building in seconds. Short for Composition-12, the volatile explosive is illegal for civilian possession and such was only used by military for the most drastic needs of demolition. C-12 was mainly carried in demolition packs, which explosives experts are usually equipped with. In comparison of volatility, a saboteur will usually have one C-12 for every three C-7. Two of these demolition packs contain enough to blow through a UNSC frigate's armor. Further along the C-7 explosives were M168 det charges, designed to kick the explosion off.

"These Venom guys sure pack a lot of punch."

"Yeah." Lusana paused, looking through a crack in the concrete pillar to see the white explosives crammed inside. "They sure want a thorough job."

"Eon Lead, this is Pine. We've got activity on the bridge. Looks like they're evacuating since the convoy's ETA is ten mikes."

"We're on it." Lusana and Fowler got to work; their primary was to disarm the C-7 detonators. A touch of a button here and a cautious snip of a wire there. They had taken a few minutes to already disarm less than half of the rigged. The M168 charges just had to be rotated with their arming handle backwards.

"I wonder why they just didn't detonate it before the convoy gets over?" Austal wondered aloud.

"They want the element of surprise. See how they're evacuating people? They want the convoy to think this is abandoned. So they'll be all comfy rollin across and then it'll go boom."

"Fowler, be advised you've got a grunt coming down the steps. Most likely to be doing a last minute check."

"I copy."

Lusana twisted the handle of the last detonator, satisfied that the green light indicated that the charge was disarmed. Running a quick look over his HUD, there were no more charges on this column that were armed.

"Okay, all explosives green. Let's fall out."

Eon had no idea if explosives were rigged to the second column on the other side, but it seemed better to bomb a convoy when it was completely on the bridge. The one that Lusana and Fowler were on, with the charges on the closer column meant that it was going to roll in their direction.

"Hang on." Fowler help up a fist and then held a pistol gesture with his arm extended up, the signal of an approaching rifleman. He peered around the corner, his camo completely concealing him from view. The shadow had grown bigger, finally showing wrinkled fatigues of a leg. Fowler made his move.

He swept around, his camo automatically deactivating. The man stopped short when Fowler thrust his shotgun's stock forward. A snapping crunch was heard as the blow snapped his head backwards and he slumped back, instantly dead.

"Hades, Eon." Lusana reported, "Charges disarmed."

"I hear ya." He drawled back, "Stand guard of the span until the convoy passes."

"Got it."

Just as they came at the top of the bridge, they heard a droning sound of an engine as well as yells of hostiles at them. Even though it was in Italian, they already knew what was expected of them.

"Well they know we're here now. Weapons free!"

"I'm moving to cover!" Fowler yelled, sprinting over behind a concrete barricade. The nearest jeep swiveled its machine gun and the gunner let out a long stream of rounds. Lusana reflex ducked back as the rounds kicked up gravel and splintered metal.

"Repositioning!" Pine said, as he broke his sniper post and ran towards the bridge.

"Copy, I have you covered!" Austal responded. When he was a hundred meters behind them, he too ran up to join him.

Fowler switched to his M739 SAW and opened up on the footmen assaulting the position. With just one drum magazine, he managed to drop four hostiles. Lusana had his pistol out, trying to distract the gunner.

Ross put a sniper round through the glass in a shattering wall of crystal. The driver slumped over, his head all over the seat. Austal was scanning for targets further back, his rifle cracking as he dropped two more hostiles trying to suppress Lusana with their LMGs.

"Take these guys out! It's just a matter of time before the swallow shows up again!"

Austal saw the jeep fire the fifty caliber again and reached into his belt. Judging the distance, he arced his arm and fluidly tossed the grenade at the same time calling, "Frag out!"

"Copy, frag out!" Fowler hollered.

The explosive bounced off another car's hood and rolled to a halt by the jeep. The Spartan grinned as it detonated, flipping the green vehicle over and then followed by a plume of fire from the explosion.

"I have eyes on enemy air!" Ross reported, he highlighted a red diamond of an approaching swallow gunship. The AV-11's appeared to be of the A variant, a faster harder hitting type that had a nasty chaingun and Argent V missiles.

As soon as he called it out, a pair of smoke trails erupted from the sides. The twin unguided missiles dropped and then ignited the fuel. Fowler dove back, crouching behind the secondary barricade when the exposives detonated in a deafening roar. Austal and Pine took advantage of the obscurity to power on their metallic scopes and drop the last two infantry.

"He's targeting you Austal! Go left! Go left!"

Austal broke away from his scope and sprinted, being chased by plumes of dust from the chaingun's rounds. Pine aimed while it was firing and sent a round into the gunship's hull. Something snapped and they heard the screeching of metal as a few pieces broke off and fell to the ground. In response, it weaved around in an erratic evasive move. None of Eon had any anti-aircraft weapons, save for the limited rounds in Austal and Pine's snipers. Before the gunner in the aircraft could get a bead on them, their camo kicked in and they vanished from sight. Spraying their chaingun at where they had previously been before they had disappeared had no help whatsoever.

"We gotta get this gunship down." Lusana said as it circled over the bridge again. "That convoy is going to be here in less than two minutes."

"All out assault?" Pine asked, tracking its movements with the sniper.

"That's probably our only option." Lusana loaded another clip into his SMG, "Austal, go for that downed jeep's turret if you're able to. I'm sure that thing's still got plenty of ammo left. I'm thinking that the only way to bring that bird down is by filling it with lead."

"Austal get moving!" Fowler broke their silence, shooting the craft with his SAW. "I'll keep you covered." Marcus saw the other two add their own weapons to the carnage and bolted for the wreckage of the jeep. He saw the chaingun spooling up and ran even faster.

The turret was an older model of the fifty cal with a belt fed single barrel, much differently designed than the modern rotating muzzle of the LAAG that the warthog had. With a grunt, he pulled the turret, snapping it off its base. He racked a round through and let out a burst fire to check if it still worked.

Just as he was looking around for the gunship, he felt himself being blown back. The Argent V missiles slammed into the pavement, exploding a nearby car. Austal felt himself impact the ground and was winded.

"Austal!" Fowler cried before waving to the other two, "Suppressing fire!"

The other Spartans continued their barrage of projectiles. Some of the weaker rounds bounced off while the more powerful sniper bullets punched through the thin armor. The chaingun fired again, causing the other Spartans to duck back.

Austal got to his feet and sprinted the distance to where the turret had been flung. He ditched his rifle, sliding next to the heavy gun. The gunship now peeled to his right, going behind some of the cables that kept it suspended.

Finally it reappeared, doing a strafing run down the center lane. He aimed the machine gun in an underhand style, as firing it like a rifle would be too unwieldy. As it neared, he squeezed the firing mechanism as hard as possible.

Spitting out large bullets at a rapid pace, the bullets effortlessly punched through the bottom. As soon as he started hitting, the gunship quickly ascended to avoid future fire, but the Spartan had already predicted his move. He was already aiming upwards before the pilot even reached for the controls.

The gun suddenly clicked and he looked back, "Shit." No ammo.

"Damn, I'm out!" He called.

"I'm out too!" Ross had the only real option of bringing the gunship down. Austal threw himself over the car's hood to avoid another salvo of chaingun fire before he took out his pistol and emptied that as well.

"How is she still flying?" He was totally disbelieved.

"Oh!" Fowler rose from his position, "Look! She's coming down!"

Sure enough, the gunship, started smoking and the front canopy where the pilot sat began covering itself with electricity from the failed controls. The turret fire must've busted its systems and it suddenly descended over the edge of the cables before finally tipping over. The craft hit the water's surface and exploded into a giant fireball to the bridge's left.

Eon relaxed, with sweat beading their bodies despite the armor temperature regulators. Lusana felt his own suit activate some vents to help air out the heat inside.

"Everyone okay?"

"We're good." All three replied in separate moments.

"UNSC personnel occupying C falls bridge please respond." The female voice suddenly came on all four Spartans' channels.

Austal had jogged over to the rest of the team, retrieving his sniper rifle. Lusana switched channels so that the contactor could hear as well when he arrived. "This is Eon Lead."

"Eon Lead, this is Chiron Seven-two. My convoy is crossing the bridge now."

Lusana gestured to the team and they melted among the wreckage, "Chiron Seven-two, roger. We got eyes on."

"Say again Eon Lead? I do not have a visual."

"Just focus on getting those supplies across."

* * *

**A good effort on saving the bridge, but Venom's not done yet.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone, you give my writing purpose.**


	16. Revolution III

**Ville de Lombard, New Corsica**

**August 24, 2557**

"Good job on getting those supplies to the relief effort." Cardinal congratulated on the HUD. Hades had finally secured a private channel so that Eon could talk with their commander. "The resistance force is putting up a hell of a fight, especially in Ville de Lombard. Those supplies are going to go a long way. In the meantime, Sydney's identified a central leader that might be able to strike back at the Venom Wing. Colonel Victor Lauczi, a career soldier, war hero against the Covenant loyalists and a badass. He may just be the hero that New Corsica needs. Venom's sensed his danger and has his forces under siege in Ville de Lombard. We don't know the full scope of what's happening, but we do know that he needs help. I'm sending you to support and take the pressure off. We need to minimize involvement because it could be bad for the UNSC. Give him a hand down there. I'd say he'd be the one to lead if he just needs a little respite."

"Copy. We'll get it done."

* * *

The final hostile dropped in a cloudy bullet trail that originated from Pine's sniper rifle. Eon was cloaked in their camo systems, being undetectable.

"Clear."

"Alright gentlemen, we're going to pull our own recon on this one. Lauczi sounds like he just needs a little breathing room."

Eon stealthily moved to the outskirts of the city. In the distance there were clapping sounds of machine gun fire and visually, the skyline was blocked by columns of smoke. Occasionally, there would be a stream of anti-aircraft fire coming from somewhere closer to the city centre, directed at the small fleet of swallow gunships that were flying overhead.

"We've got fighting up ahead. I think the Venom guys have got some rebels pinned in the streets." Fowler pointed ahead, where the drum beat of a heavy machine gun came from.

"Get a sensor grenade in there."

"Roger that." Fowler had crept to the side of the building and lobbed a sphere inside. The grenade tagged all hostiles as well as their armament inside the building and fed all of that information back to the HUD. Pine and Austal had crept to the building's side and saw a few more troops firing at a small group of resistance forces that took refuge inside a restaurant. They had propped tables as barricades in an attempt to halt their advance, but the machine gun fired another steady stream of rounds, pulping them.

Pine saw three rebels fire older battle rifles at the wall of attacking Venom soldiers. They ducked, shouting at one another of what they were doing. Their motions and handling of the modern assault rifles meant that these guys were professionals. Sure, their encounters with other Venom hostiles were met with coordination, falling inferior to Eon's. One of the rebels rose up, snapping off a headshot on one of the Venom that was moving to another barricade. His head jerked back and he toppled over in a spray of blood.

If Eon had to give the rebels anything, it was an A for morale and tactics as well. They could be just as good if they were motivated, although this particular trio was likely fighting for their lives. They were about to get some respite.

Pine signaled Austal to his designated target, the second man on the right who was crouching. Austal nodded and motioned to the one on the far right. Both Spartans fired a single round from their pistol, simultaneously dropping their targets. None of their comrades seemed to notice the fallen.

"Let's move." He tapped Marcus' shoulder so that they could get in a better position to eliminate the rest of the footmen.

Meanwhile, Fowler peered around the corner where the machine gunner and a spotter were laying cover fire into the restaurant. Lusana at the other side of the door cut down the spotter. The younger Spartan rushed forward, smashing the stock of his gun on the back of the gunner's head. The man crumpled to the ground, dead from the action that had snapped his spine.

"Pine, Austal, I have the MG, watch your heads."

"Copy."

There were five remaining Venom soldiers, all laying siege along the front line. The rebels crouched down, only returning a short burst that was inaccurate. It was likely that they were conserving ammo.

Pine fired his rifle, making nothing more than a muted cough from the suppressor attached to the muzzle in place of the usual compensator usually issued. The closest Venom fell down in a spray of blood.

Lusana tagged the next foe, "Remember, once we clear these hostiles, we are not to interact in any way with the rebels."

"Got it."

Fowler pivoted the turret, laying down a solid stream of fire at the remaining four. Two of them were minced by the bullets, but the other duo had more time to find cover. A few bullets from their rifles hit the floor where Brett fired the machine gun and he felt his shields activate to neutralize any harmful effect. He stopped firing to let the weapon cool down before the automatic safety measures kicked in.

"He's moving to cover!"

"I'm suppressing!" Pine shouted.

The rebels saw that the Venom numbers assaulting had dwindled and had stood up, one of them firing a precision battle rifle. The burst caught the closer one in the shoulder and he flinched, stumbling. The two other rebels finished him off with a burst from their weapons as well, older MA2B assault rifles.

The last one broke cover, running away from the restaurant. The rebels fired again, but had missed.

Fowler didn't.

He fluidly swept the gun to his left, letting out a short burst. The bullets instantly found their mark, jerking the Venom's body before falling to the ground, spewing up a plume of dirt in the process.

"Let's go Eon." Lusana said once he died and before the rebels could find out who had saved them.

Two hours later, they had finally gone quite deep into enemy territory. Patrols were frequent and most of the time, they were in a position where spotting them was possible. A couple of swallow gunships moved above, suggesting that there was an outpost where they were tended to.

The closer they got to the metropolitan outskirts, the louder the booming became. Hades had put up the colonel's general position, which was on the southern part of the city. That's where the mortar fire seemed to be concentrated the most.

"Looks like artillery fire." Austal gestured to the three trails where explosives made their dive down to earth.

"They're taking Colonel Lauczi seriously."

Lusana was on point and he signaled the others to follow him onto a higher point. They went atop an apartment building and had an unobstructed view of one of the mortar positions. It was about a half mile ahead, with a few patrols in the middle.

"Eyes on hostile armor." Fowler pointed down to a road where two tiger APCs and a scorpion tank were rolling alongside. They seemed to be headed towards the Ville de Lombard skyline, which the tallest buildings were only visible to the augmented Spartan's vision.

"I don't see what we can do for Lauczi." Pine was observing through his sniper scope, "Venom's got their artillery tightly guarded."

Lusana finally decided after a brief pause, "Then we'll just have to kick in the front door."

Eon descended, noticing a few guards milling around some equipment set on a few tables in the lobby of the complex.

"Sir, that looks like a communication outpost and judging by the guard's movements, I'm guessing that that used to belong to the rebels."

"Could be how they tracked their movements easily." Eon Lead added, "Clear out the hostiles."

A sensor grenade was tossed behind a desk, revealing five enemies, all with assault rifles. Eon knew that one hostile would have to survive the initial attack since there were only four Spartans, so there was a chance they could be detected, but Eon had to be fast.

"In position." Fowler lined up his shot.

"Ready when you are."

"Standing by."

"Go!" The Spartans let off bursts from their weapons, the Venom all dropped to the ground. Acting quickly, Lusana found the last guy who was already alert and with his weapon. He drew a bead with his M7S SMG and fired a volley. The caseless rounds punched straight through his weak body armor and he crumpled to the ground, dropping the assault rifle at his side.

"Clear."

"Clear."

Lusana examined the older equipment, it wasn't the primitive type of older centuries, but in a warzone, it was something. "Austal, is this the rebel frequencies?"

Austal picked up a comlink that the Venom had monitored, piping the feed to his internal speakers, the dialogue was mainly in French. "Affirmative, this particular channel is undetectable and it listens to the colonel's personal orders. In short, I can hear others and him talking to their teams."

"Cardinal, Eon. We've captured a Venom held rebel comm outpost. I think we've found a way to give Lauczi some breathing room. Austal's going to inform him of what we're doing." He was now breaking his order to refrain from interacting with the rebels in any form, but as always, Spartans had to adapt.

"Copy Eon. Austal, uh do us some good and not mention us by name." As he was the only one who was able to communicate with the colonel.

"Sure thing." He removed the comlink, taking a couple of seconds to sync it up to everyone's channels. Of course he could use a translator in his suit, but he knew that the colonel would probably be more comfortable if his own language was spoken in his own tongue, rather than be altered by electronics.

"Get on the channel and warn him that we're going to take out those artillery batteries."

Austal took a deep breath, "_Colonel Lauczi, hostiles are attacking with mortars. More are coming from the east."_

It took a few seconds, but a voice that was unmistakably Lauczi's spoke in panicked French. Austal heard gunfire ratting in the background. "_Who is this? Which unit is reporting?"_

"_We are allies and moving to eliminate the mortars, stand by." _He switched off the channel before any response could be made. "Colonel Lauczi's pinned in there. Eliminate the mortars and I think he's got the capability to take it from there."

"Let's do it." Fowler said, clearing the next room. The team filed out in camo, with the first mortar positioned in the next block's intersection. They moved in silence, giving light signals until they reached the mortar. Streets and buildings were blackened from previous combat and the road remained surprisingly clear of debris. Cars lined either side of the walkways, some of them having bullet holes in them and others completely burned out.

The mortar was surrounded by a few barricades, making even a stealthy approach impossible. The guards would notice even the cloaked Spartans maneuvering around the concrete. Plus, if they ran, they'd be spotted anyway.

"Pine, stay back and provide sniper fire. I don't know how many are nearby, but we need a long range advantage."

"Roger that."

The mortar was a medium grade, able to be disassembled and moved by three men. It stood on a tripod with a long tube for more accurate shots. The mortars were automatically loaded from a belt that was fed from the right side. The shells were able to punch through Titanium armor, but the main purpose was to siege their foes, relentlessly pounding their hunkered opponents. A digital screen was to the side, where the operator would sit on a chair to utilize the emplacement.

One of them was already operating the artillery while a score of others were patrolling around. They were bored, but maybe the element of surprise and shock could kick in and give Eon and advantage.

"Go loud. Full out assault." Lusana said as he stacked up beside the furthest barricade, "Can't be more than two patrols."

"What if they've got armor?" Fowler asked.

"We improvise."

"Sound off." Pine centered his aim on the operator and fired.

As soon as the guy went down, Austal, Fowler and Lusana opened fire on three other unlucky targets, dropping them with bullets.

A shout in French came from the other side of the mortar and then a half dozen enemies appeared, taking cover behind the barricade firing their assault rifles.

"Hostiles, move!"

"I got you covered." Lusana sprayed suppressing fire, taking out one of them. He jerked and fell back.

"Moving!" Lightning fast, Austal sprinted forward, behind a piece of cover that one of the Venom man was hiding behind. He sensed the presence and leaned over. The Spartan looked up and grabbed his arm that held the front of his assault rifle. Pulling down, he performed the usual move when taking a sentry off a building. This time, the guard fell facefirst on the pavement, where he put four rounds from his M57 into the back.

Fowler tossed a frag, landing beside another duo of guards. Being close to the explosive, Austal ducked down, jumping up to stitch another after it exploded, taking them out. A third hostile shot Austal's shields with an assault rifle before collapsing without his head from a smoky white trail.

Pine always had their back.

"Clear?"

Lusana reappeared again, swinging his SMG around to kill a Venom that they had wounded, but had crawled to fire his pistol at them.

"Clear. Fowler, get some det charges on the mortar."

"You got it." He moved to his work, quickly attaching explosives. "Set."

The team moved to a safe distance where they plotted a course to the other two mortar positions. Once they heard this detonation, there was no doubt that the commanders of the Venom task force would strengthen their guards around the mortars. Eon had to be fast.

"One down." Fowler thumbed the detonator, vanishing it in a massive boom that shook the ground. The emplacement split apart in fire and debris, with the mortar shells doing most of the destructive work.

"Two to go."

* * *

**Originally, I was going to have Austal and the colonel interact in French sentences, which I thought would have been great if I had a better knowledge of the language. I speak some French, but probably only enough to order something at a Paris restaurant. Therefore, I instead put the French parts in italic text.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	17. Revolution VI

**Ville de Lombard, New Corsica**

**August 24, 2557**

"Fowler?"

"I'm on it." He clicked the detonator, blasting the second mortar site to pieces. "Two neutralized. One to go."

The last mortar was a significant distance away and had strangely halted shelling Colonel Lauczi's position. Activity over the area remained constant, with the staccato rattling of gunfire and the groups of swallows flying overhead. There was also a gunship hovering around where the first mortar had been placed and blown up. Searching for the perpetrators was going to be futile if the gunship stayed there.

"Let's get that mortar down and get the fuck outta here." Fowler complained after a few minutes of stealthily walking. "I want to catch the Leopards game."

Fowler never let his support have a limit for his homeworld's Pinnacle League Gravball team, the Criterion Leopards. They were a fun team to watch, but were average in their league. He was fairly sure that they were going to face the New Paris Warriors, a highly feared team for their solid defense.

"Let's get it done. The faster we do it, the faster Fowler can stop bitching."

"Maybe."

Suddenly a shot pierced the silence. Austal was knocked back and his shields instantly overloaded. Reflexes kicked in and he rolled behind cover before the sniper could get him again.

"A sniper!"

"Shields down! Find cover!"

Eon jumped to what cover they could find by another apartment complex and a dumpster. The shot seemed to originate from the tower adjacent; however none of them could see the shooter.

"Anybody got eyes?" Lusana's camo activated as he slinked from the sniper's view.

"Negative!" Pine scanned the sides with his own rifle before suddenly tensing and then firing a shot. "Sniper down."

"Keep your eyes peeled." Lead reminded everyone, "There are probably more of them."

"Hopefully they won't spot us." Austal added.

Eon two shook his head in mock annoyance, "Oh come on kid. Don't jinx us."

"Fowler, police the noise."

Suddenly, another sniper took a shot, the bullet whizzing by Lusana's helmet by four inches. This time, Eon was prepared for it. Austal was the first to highlight him on his HUD and he kept his pistol trained on the moving icon. The sniper was located at the end of the far alley and relocating to try and avoid being spotted. Little did he know that he was the one being hunted by the Spartans.

"He's mine." Eon Lead split off from the others, moving to intercept. He held up a fist when he was at the alley's end to where the icon of the sniper was approaching. The team halted, prepared to back their leader up.

Tony lunged as soon as he cleared the opening. The sniper fell backwards as the Spartan gave his neck a savage twist. "He's done."

"I'm moving."

"Austal, take point. Any snipers that haven't spotted us, they're yours."

"Roger that."

They finally reached the street where a bridge was underneath the two tigers and scorpion that they had seen earlier.

Austal quietly slashed a sniper's throat, before gently setting the corpse of the final sniper on the ground. "Target down."

"Visual on hostile armor."

"Do not engage the tank or the APCs, we don't have the equipment for that."

"What about after we destroy the last mortar?" Fowler asked.

Nobody responded to that. Eon slipped right behind the tank and into a narrow ledge that was over the river running through the city.

"Watch your step." Fowler warned. The team activated their nano-palms for adherence to the wall. Slipping off the ledge would expose them like a bug on a windshield, especially to the tank nearby. They also had to move slowly or else their camo would deactivate as well. In a sense, a risky thing to do, but there wasn't any other option. Lusana went first and Pine brought up the rear.

"Third mortar is just behind the next bridge." He said as they cleared the ledge over to a wider concrete platform that was more level with the waterline. "Not a very good visual on hostile guards, save for the operator." As if to emphasize his point, the mortar boomed in the distance, shooting a white explosive shell over the south end of the city. It left a bright clear contrail as it fell down towards its target.

The side of the bridge was too high to climb upon, so Lusana and Pine crouched down, to support the other two Spartans. Once they were up, both did a quick scan for enemies before pulling the other two.

"I got eyes on the last mortar."

"Clear out the hostiles."

"Copy." Pine sniped the operator once again as the three other Spartans quickly rushed up.

The third mortar was located at the side of the next bridge, just off the road. Both Fowler and Austal opened up with their silenced automatic weapons. Lusana stayed in the center, watching for reinforcements.

"Hostile sniper down."

Then the Venom started shouting in French, attempting to organize their patrols. It was difficult to identify who officers were and even who was speaking since they wore lightly armored combat fatigues and masks with clear visors. So to compensate, the Spartans made themselves known, deactivating camo and unsilencing their weapons. Fowler's SAW chewed up one that was about to throw a grenade. He fell backwards, all cut to hamburger and the grenade rolled away detonating harmlessly a second later. To his right, Lusana covered the far end of the bridge, providing fire and keeping a second patrol pinned for Ross to snipe out a couple. Austal leaned back to avoid a lightning hit from one of the survivors. He then drew his combat knife fluidly jamming it in the base of the man's spine.

More bangs came from the other side of the bridge. Eon looked over to see a tiger advancing, its anti-material cannon barking away. Pieces of concrete pelted their shields as the vehicle began to make its tight voyage across.

"Enemy armor crossing the bridge."

"Fowler, put the det charge down."

"What?!" He had the fist sized device in his hand, "You out of your mind? We won't have any explosives after this one!"

"Do it or we won't survive another round!" Lusana ducked back as the tiger spotted him and pivoted its turret. Austal shot one of the six wheels, but the tough material deflected his personal defense cartridges. "Bullets are ineffective!"

Fowler tossed his C-7 on the bridge and quickly detonated it. A roar came from the structure as it buckled. The center hit the water in a giant splash, raining down tiny pieces of concrete along with droplets. The tiger's engine whined as it reversed, but unfortunately, it was failing to escape. Slowly, it lost ground until it hit the surface with a mighty splash. The vehicle's autocannon fired two rounds that had went wild into the sky and then it sank from sight.

"How come the UNSC doesn't provide vehicles that can float?"

Austal exhaled at Fowler's quip, "Thankfully that one can't."

He turned around to look at the younger Spartan; he knew that Fowler had a grin on his face despite being hidden by the visor, "Yeah, I suppose that jinx was beneficial."

"Too bad that ain't on video." Pine added. Then he swept an arm at the now dormant mortar, "Now how are we gonna deal with that?"

"No clue." Brett had no explosives remaining and the mortar tube was near empty, with one shell remaining and it was in the chamber. They could fire it directly upwards and have the round destroy its own emplacement, but they risked blowing themselves up, so the option was discarded.

"Austal, can you power on the mortar?"

"Sure thing." He went over, sticking his black knife back in his sheath as he manned the controls. The screen went blue and he pressed a couple of buttons, giving Lusana a thumbs up.

"Okay, search the bodies for grenades or explosives. I've got an idea."

"Roger that." The four Spartans began scavenging. Most of the time, they just found more bullets and utilities. These Venom were adequately equipped, with gear was probably the most advanced in the early 2500s. There was plenty of MA2B assault rifles with a higher caliber than the standard MA5D seen today. The armor was slightly different on the corpse that Lusana was searching through, a red shoulder guard, most likely to indicate that he was a sergeant or an officer. Instead of the MA2B, he had an MA5K light carbine. On him, he had found two grenades that were removed from his belt. The other three had returned with one or two more M9 frags as well.

"Okay, I want everyone to put their grenades inside the tube. Austal, prime the round inside to fire in ten seconds."

"Roger that."

Marcus lowered the tube down so that they didn't have to shoot hoops with their grenades. When they were done, there were more than six handheld bombs inside, more than enough to blast the mortar apart. When the shell struck the explosives, it would set them off as well, maybe. If it didn't, it would surely stop it from leaving the tube so it would detonate inside the barrel.

"Everyone clear?"

"Clear!"

"Setting timer!" Austal twisted a dial, punched a few more keys and then dismounted. "Mortar set!"

"Get clear!"

The seconds ticked by as Eon moved across the road to the bridge's other side. Austal was last in and he looked out to watch the doomed emplacement.

The timer hit zero and they heard the mortar whoosing sound and then an explosion a split second later. Three of the grenades closest to the shell had exploded, amplifying the destructive force inside the tube. The stands, mechanism and the battery as a whole just obliterated itself in a giant ball of fire and dust. Shards of metal flew everywhere and Eon ducked down as a large piece the size of a machine gun crashed into the stone behind them.

Fowler elbowed Lusana, "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"What, the mortar?"

"Yeah."

He grinned, but maintained the same inflectionless tone he always had. "I didn't. It was a wild guess."

"It worked. Good job Cap." Pine said.

"Cardinal, artillery has been neutralized."

"Roger that. I think Lauczi's got the breathing room he needs. Let's get you out of there while we still can. Head for the extraction point on the southeast section of the city in the square where the waypoint is put."

"Roger that, Eon's moving."

Tony led them through the side paths while maintaining a view of the river. The square where the pelican would extract them was alongside the water body and it made sense to stick to the side.

Some more lights came from the towers, machine guns mounted inside firing at the groups of swallows. It seemed that the artillery being neutralized made a drastic effect on Lauczi's anti-aircraft abilities. Already, they saw a swallow get engulfed in flames and plummet down inside.

"I think the rebels are motivated again. They're picking those swallows out of the sky."

"Hold." The team halted to the side, watching as another patrol passed by.

"Austal, let Colonel Lauczi know that he is clear." He motioned for them to take a knee and watch their fields.

"Switching channels." He waited until the light came on for the colonel who could hear him and then began speaking in French, _"Colonel Lauczi, hostile mortars have been taken down, you're clear."_

Lauczi replied a few seconds later, Austal suspected that the delay was from the equipment that they had or it could be something entirely different. "_My men reported the explosions minutes ago. We're clear and advancing."_

"_Good to hear."_

"_It is. Where are you located?"_

"_This sector is clear. We're gone." _Austal replied. Of course it wasn't true, but the rebels didn't need to know that a special operations team of Spartans were helping.

"_Oh." _Lauczi was probably surprised, but he didn't show it over the line, "_Then I suggest you be careful, especially in the southern area if that's where you're withdrawing. I had already lost four teams."_

"_Thanks for the warning. Good luck."_

"_Likewise. Whoever you are, I am grateful for your assistance."_

Austal checked his M57, "_We will get out your way sir. Out." _ Then he severed the connection, making sure it was encrypted so that it couldn't be traced.

"Did he get the message?" Lusana asked.

"Yes sir. He also said that he had lost men in areas close to the extraction point."

"We'll have to be watchful."

Eon was beginning to move out when they heard the sound of the engines.

"Swallows, get to cover!"

The gunship appeared over the river, spraying bullets that peppered Eon's shields. They dove for the side, returning fire in short bursts.

"How the hell did they find out where we were?" Fowler demanded over the rattling fire of his own weapon. The SAW's rounds glanced off the bottom hull of the gunship with it strafing side to side in a vain attempt to avoid him.

"I don't think this is the time to question that!"

"Let's move! To the warehouse!" Lusana broke cover, sprinting across. The helo's gun pivoted, tracking the Spartan, but Tony kept his top speed up, barely staying ahead of the computer slaved chaingun mounted on the nose. He half opened, slammed his armored body in the door which the thin metal wall had easily caved.

"Go!" The other three Spartans ditched their hiding spots, returning fire in stray salvos. The gunship launched a few rockets that impacted the side of the warehouse, blowing giant holes in the wall. Sprinting inside, they heard the walls and part of the ceiling come right down. Eon hit the deck in the midst of the chaotic collapsing and more rattling of the chaingun.

The gunship circled for a few more minutes before suddenly a bright red beam sliced right through the upper part of the swallow. The gunship listed in midair exploding into fiery pieces that crashed into the street.

* * *

**Once again, French dialogue is in italics.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.**


	18. Viper I

**Ville de Lombard outskirts, New Corsica**

**August 24, 2557**

The warehouse idea was more of a winging solution. Although it provided Eon with temporary refuge, it then became their potential doom. Every Spartan was on the ground.

Ross Pine was the first to awaken, groaning and lifting his head. He let out a shout of surprise when his helmet had bonked on something above. Cursing, he turned around, seeing the side of the metal wall that had caved and fallen nearly on top of them. Fortunately, debris had laid above them, blocking the wall and saving them from certain doom.

"Everyone okay?" He realized that everyone was conscious, but remained immobile in case anything else shifted and more harm was done.

"Yeah. You can say that." Fowler was to Pine's left, a large ripped piece of metal seemed to be touching the armor on his hips. Austal must've found it funny because he couldn't suppress a snicker.

"Shut up."

Lusana lay just next to Pine's right leg, "Everyone move slowly and deliberately. We don't want this whole warehouse to cave in."

Fowler retrieved his SAW which had rested beneath his elbow and pushed the metal shard away, "Or what's left of it."

"What happened to the gunship?" Austal asked.

"Don't know. Keep eyes peeled."

It took a while, but Eon finally managed to unbury themselves and be able to stand upright. Lusana and Pine had lost their primary guns so they resorted to sidearms.

The extraction point wasn't too far away, but they laid low in case more swallows found them.

"Fuck, my camo's malfunctioning." Pine was staring down at his suit, which seemed to shimmer in random erratic ways. Austal's and Lusana's were the same way, although not as bad.

"Keep moving. We'll worry about our equipment problems later. Fowler, get on point."

"Enemies with an assault rifle ahead." He gestured to hold before crossing up to the nearby patrol.

"Drop em."

"Affirmative." All four aimed separately at a different target and simultaneously killed their Venom when Eon two gave the order.

"Targets down." Ross retrieved a pair of MA5Ks from the dead and tossed the other one to Tony along with a couple of magazines. "We'll take up the rear since we don't have suppressors on our weapons."

"Roger that." Fowler waved Marcus over, "Austal, with me."

The urban streets began to grow smaller with the larger buildings being replaced by single story structures of supermarkets, restaurants and stores, all abandoned and probably looted by the Venom occupiers or anarchists. It was a scene completely out of an apocalyptic movie. Some of the most random things along with cracked glass from thrown rocks.

"Damn, I hate these guys even more."

"Yeah." Austal agreed, "They certainly aren't fit to be in charge if they're going to loot the place."

Fowler's next comment died as he looked down towards the square. It was a nicer square, aside from burning vehicles and corpses of both Venom and rebel soldiers. There was another column of troop transports that slowly moved towards the bridge. That particular span was going to take them on a flanking route right behind the colonel's bulk of forces. Due to their main front already weakened from battling on the main area, a team getting behind wouldn't be instantly disastrous, but it would divert enough attention for the entire rebel movement to have to shift their aim in protecting their territory.

"If they succeed in getting behind, the whole thing we just did was for nothing."

Fowler groaned at Lusana's statement, as much as it was true, the team hadn't been able to sleep in sixty hours. Because of that, they were cranky and short tempered. Even Lusana's coolness was beginning to heat up with irritation. "Can't just give us a break can they?"

"Not really. Drop em."

Eon fired from their position. The Venom had about a dozen visible hostiles and they lost half of that before they realized where they were being attacked from. Ross hung back, letting free his sniper ammo. Round after round punched through their armor, spraying blood, brains and bits of bone everywhere. He never cringed at the gruesome sight. Unless it was much more drastic than usual, nothing is new.

Lusana's grenade set one of the trucks aflame. Fowler tossed a second grenade that sent it upwards in a fireball. Someone strafed their battle rifle across his shields and he quickly ducked back behind the concrete.

Austal had taken a flanking route, spraying a stream of bullets from his side position. "The front group is down. Move up before they regroup!"

"Roger that Austal." Lusana waved to the other two. Automatically, the sniper switched to his pistol, thumbing off the safety and popping rounds downrange. In the corner of his eye, he saw a Venom begin to lunge with the butt of his rifle. Ross easily ducked the blow, charging forward in a shoulder barge. The move smashed his spine against the wall, crushed between concrete and a half ton of MJOLNIR armor.

"Clean em up Eon. Leave no witnesses."

"Roger."

Fowler marked the last four making a break to escape. He brought the SAW's sights up, only able to squeeze off enough rounds to kill one of them.

"Damn, they got away."

"Austal." Lusana's frosty voice broke through, "Take care of it."

"I'm on it."

The markers headed down some steps on one of the two story buildings. Austal sprinted for that, drawing a bead and triggering his weapon. The muzzle coughed out a long burst that caught one of them. He stumbled over, a move that cost him. The Spartan shot him again. The other two returned fire, their accuracy completely pathetic. More than twenty rounds discharged and only one had hit him, uselessly splattering against his shield.

He fired again on full auto, this time, catching the further fleeing enemy. He stopped in his tracks and fell down.

The last one tried to make a stand. Before he could react, the Venom smashed the butt of the rifle into Austal's chest. His shields took the brunt of the attack, but the blow still made him recoil. He retracted his rifle and fired, the rounds completely depleting the shields. Spartan Austal scrambled backwards, managing to find cover behind another brick wall.

Sensing that his quarry was on the run, the Venom now pursued. He rounded the brick wall, checking the other side as he reloaded his old gun.

"My turn." Marcus said, almost invisible in the shaded part of the wall. He lunged forward, half pushing the enemy against the wall. The Venom recovered remarkably quickly, cursing in French. Austal swung his left arm around, the hammerfist striking the side of his head. As he knelt down in pain and shock, he finished with a lethal knee that was never expected. The stike upwards, while he was still moving downwards was enough to sever his spine from his skull. He collapsed in a heap.

"Evac's here! Let's go!" By now, he could feel the rumble of the pelican dropship as it landed in the square. He stole one last look at the corpse before moving to join the others.

A squad of Army troopers knelt down to cover their escape if need be, but they were in a more relaxed formation due to the enemy presence absent. Austal was the last of Eon aboard, followed by the sergeant and his men.

"Nice to finally be on a bird home." Ross remarked as the rear thrusters came to life and the ground began to drop from underneath. He had his helmet off already and wiped some sweat off his brow.

"Yeah, I could use a beer." Fowler leaned his head back to rest on the bulkhead.

"I'm buying."

* * *

**UNSC **_**Antietam**_** orbiting New Corsica**

Spartan Fowler let in a satisfied breath of air as the armor ring finally took off the last piece to his MJOLNIR suit. Spending countless hours inside the suit gave a wide span of the advantages and disadvantages. The GEN2 was supposedly just as good as the mainline armor that was manufactured by private companies in joint with techs involved in Covenant tech reverse engineering. GEN2 models were cheaper, but Fowler thought they looked more bulky. However, there were different armor versions for different specialties.

An advantage of the armor was the convenience and speed. A Spartan-IV could be fully suited with the armor in seconds opposed to the much longer time needed to assemble the part by part of the older models. The quick readiness meant that there was more time to get into the action before the enemy took advantage of it.

A definite disadvantage was that it wasn't pleasant, especially since he hadn't been able to shower. Of course the armor's temperature regulators would heat or cool, depending on the condition, but it didn't stop sweat. He was glad that the undersuit held down any odors. It might as well be stuffed into hollowed out gas grenades and used as a weapon to control riots.

The showers were just by the quarters where most of the ship's personnel slept. Fowler brought along his secondary undersuit and strode in the locker area. He took a towel and removed his clothing.

There were two different areas of showers, separate for the open area of the non-officers and the private stalls for the officers. The destroyer's captain and XO would get a stall in their personal cabins. Because Eon were considered guests, they still had to go with the enlisted and non-officers facilities.

The open area had about twenty heads with only a couple others occupied by marines. In here, everyone minded their own business.

There was only a three minute limit, counted down by a display below the head. The activation would register his fingerprint and then the water would spray out in three temperatures; icy cold, lukewarm and a couple degrees below scalding. Maybe he was exaggerating for the temperature part, but it was only a little hot for his liking. The fingerprint scanners would remember him and prohibit a second shower for six hours unless overridden. To get an override from the authorized personnel meant it had to be for a good reason.

Fowler rinsed himself just as he reached the time limit. He had dried off, putting his second undersuit on and went back to his quarters. Sleep felt pretty good right about now.

* * *

Marcus Austal exerted a grunt as he gave one last effort. The bench press bar finally went up and he hooked it on the holding area. He gave a sigh of relief and accepted Ross Pine's outstretched hand.

"Before I was a Spartan, I don't even think I was able to lift half that." He accepted the water bottle and took a swig.

"It's crazy what the augmentations do." He replied with a chuckle, both Spartans saw others in the gym looking over at them. It consisted of several Marines and a couple of Navy. They looked at each other, not even having to speak to exchange information. They'd see those awed expressions too much. Austal guessed that seeing a Spartan lift multiple times their bodyweight was unbelievable, no matter how much.

"Well that's all the weights." Pine said. "You wanna go for a match?"

"Why sparring all of a sudden? Besides, I'd kick your ass tenfold."

"Is that a challenge?" Ross gave a smirk.

Austal smirked back; yes he could play the game as well, "Only one way to find out."

The sparring ring was being occupied by a trio of ODSTs, two of them engaged in a martial arts match while a third judged. Neither combatant gave them a glance, but the ref nodded.

A few minutes of observing, they gave a nod at the Spartans. "You guys wanna go?" He was a large burly ODST with a couple of scars across his forehead.

"Sure thing." Pine gestured to Austal, "We were just going to do a practice."

Both Spartans took their places at the opposite ends. The ref put his hand in the center, allowing Pine and Austal to a fist bump. He then indicated that it was alright.

Marcus raised his fists with Ross doing likewise on the other side. Both of their eyes locked on their opponent, sizing them up and determining strengths and weaknesses.

Austal lunged forward.

* * *

**Eon's out of action for the time being, with maybe some time to catch up with family? Who knows, what is certain is that Austal and Pine are on a friendly sparring match.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	19. Viper II

**UNSC Antietam orbiting New Corsica**

**August 24, 2557**

The second Austal moved, Pine already went into a defensive posture. He ducked the punch, finding himself swinging one himself in a wild manner. Austal easily blocked the blow and faked one with his left hand. He didn't take the bait and swung outwards, connecting with the other Spartan's jaw. Austal stumbled back, but recovered in a split second. Ross took immediate advantage, wrapping his arm around his neck. At first, Marcus wriggled defensively, but then tucked his chin in so that he couldn't be choked. Ross kept his grip so that Austal was in a hold in front of him. He jerked back when Austal had elbowed him and retaliated with a hammerfist of his own. They had broken free and held their hands up into fists, almost daring the other to make the first move again.

Both Spartans preferred a defensive style of hand to hand. The practice was more of a last, resort measure, as most of the time, Spartans would be able to accomplish missions and defense with their firearms. Of course, up close and personal combat, this was essential.

Austal was an expert at that. He'd been trained in recon, knife and hand to hand combat. Pine had seen him able to drop a Spartan twice his size. In contrast to the big and muscular Spartans, he had a more lithe build of an assassin. However, his body was just as well trimmed as any other Spartan's.

Pine considered himself to be average in a Spartan. It was his sniping and spotting abilities that gave him an edge over others.

Marcus turned his back just as Pine missed his strike. Ross closed in, taking advantage. Spartan trainers always told them to never ever turn your back on your enemy.

He was about to strike when Austal completely went one hundred and eighty degrees around. His foot found purchase in the chest area and the force of the blow had somewhat lifted the larger Spartan off his feet. He was knocked backwards and fell to the floor.

Rebounding, he was halted by the ref who took Austal's hand, raising it high like a wrestler champion. The surrounding audience gave a short clap.

"Nice going Spartan!"

Austal and Pine shook hands, politely declining the offer to go again. Both of them needed rest.

They had showered, gotten some food in their stomachs and slept quite soundly for hours once getting back to their temporary cabins. Both Lusana and Fowler were already asleep when they had arrived.

* * *

Austal was shaken awake by Eon Lead, who had touched his bare shoulder. Most of the time when not in the field, he slept without a shirt. The habit started when he and his parents were in Philadelphia for one of their "career" jumps.

They stayed with his uncle and aunt during the winter time. Snow had fallen nearly halfway up the door one day and school for his cousin Isabel was canceled. That night, he was quite cold in the bed by himself. It wasn't much of an option to go to his parents' but he did anyway. When he arrived at the guest bedroom, (He had slept on the couch bed), he saw his father sleeping shirtless. It took a while for him to understand why, but he now knew. He always knew friends in elementary school would groan and be reluctant to leave the warm haven of the blankets. It was no problem for him, as he'd already be cold. Staying or leaving his bed didn't make much of a difference, but he didn't have a problem that most others seemed unavoidable.

"We're back on the field within a couple hours. Get something to eat and your gear. If you haven't said anything to your relatives or girlfriend, now's the time to do so."

Austal was about to protest, but whatever Cardinal, Hades or the rest of the UNSCSPECOM had in mind was probably urgent. It was no time to defend himself from petty rumors.

Speaking of which, he found himself wondering what Gabrielle Addison was doing. He checked his clock, seeing that it was nearly six in the morning New Alexandria time. No idea when she went to work, but he had her number and that's all that mattered.

After dressing and a mouthful of an energy ration bar, he turned his comlink on and connected channels.

The line rung for thirty seconds before automatically heading to the absence message delivery. Whenever someone didn't answer in time, the AMD was an evolution of the voicemail from twentieth century phones. It allowed much more to be delivered, even as far as making sure a connected computer was able to get ahold of documents or messages sent. He didn't bother, there was time to be spent with her later.

The armor bay was open for him and he passed Ross Pine, who decided to stand by the techs with his helmet off until he suited up as well.

Getting sheathed in the armor was harder than most would expect. First, you would step into the boots that lay on the floor. The robotic arms would automatically lock your feet in place as more arms assembled the leg armor. Once that was complete, you would be hoisted up and grab the gloves as the arms now put on the torso and arm components. Everything was finished when you were set back down on the ground and the helmet would be lowered. Since the Scout variant seemed to require repairs from the techs, he had his secondary armor, the angular Venator or Wetwork variant.

In his opinion, the Venator helmet looked the most badass. Designed by Lethbridge on Concord, it was specialized in fighting a single enemy, which along with reconnaissance was Austal's specialty. Eon's members had two different armor sets for their two main specialties, a primary and backup. Pine had his replacement Tracker, Lusana's backup was a Soldier and Fowler had the Operator, although his armor was the only one that didn't require extensive repairs, his camo device however, had to be replaced with the only spare that they had. Eon Lead's seemed to be back to normal after a few tweaks.

"You ready?" Pine asked. Austal nodded and they were off.

* * *

"At ease." Cardinal commanded. Viewed in the briefing room, his hologram showed he had his helmet removed and was looking at the pedestal where he would interact with teams that were not on base. He definitely looked as if he hadn't slept for days. Eon noticed he was suppressing a yawn, but he moved slower than normal, indicating fatigue.

"Excellent work on helping Colonel Lauczi's resistance down there. It'll be only a matter of days before he manages to push Venom back to its last stand. In the meantime, we've got some other complications. ONI just intercepted a call from Venom's higher officers, they're ordering personnel at a weapons stockpile to move ALRGAM 10X missiles to a functioning launch site and primed to launch at immediate notice. We believe that this is a contingency plan and the cruise missiles have been smuggled long ago after Venom had taken power. They've already been talking about a last ditch effort to crush the resistance force and it looks like they're taking action."

"So what are we doing?" Lusana asked.

"You're going in at night to the facility, when hopefully the brigades of vehicles will be least active. Destroy those warheads or the means to transport them. If they succeed, then the resistance movement will be demoralized and open to Venom's swift retribution. Since this came from the top of the party, expect anything and be prepared for it."

* * *

**New Corsica**

Movement in Pine's eye caused him to swivel the scope to the left. Austal had crouched behind the tree in a tactical pose overlooking the area.

Eon was on the only hill that rose above a small plateau where the storage area was. None of them believed that Venom would store their cruise missiles bought off the black market would be hidden in a mansion.

Decorated in its Italian style architecture, it was definitely an expensive house with an expanding fence that ended at the edges of the trees. Being sparsely dotted among the landscape, this was a rare neighborhood just on the outskirts of Ville de Lombard where some of the wealthiest and sometimes most reclusive resided in the multimillion dollar buildings apiece.

It certainly looked peaceful, until they spotted all the scumbag Venom crawling all over it. The night vision, accompanied by their HUD was picking out a dozen infantry, along with two tiger class armored personnel carriers and an M808 Scorpion battle tank.

This time, Eon was much more prepared.

Instead of his handgun, Austal had a Spartan Laser support weapon. The dreams of having laser guns of human origin had finally come true. The most expensive handheld weapon fielded by the UNSC, the equivalent amount of credits could buy four warthogs or maybe even a couple nukes. The weapon was battery powered and it required a bit of time to charge up, but it was definitely a fun toy to play with. The laser would cut straight through armor and shields alike. It was fielded early on in the Human-Covenant War, most notably in the hands of Spartan-IIs, where it had received its namesake. However those were only prototypes. The first main field version didn't begin service until the late half of 2552.

"Alright gentlemen, this is what we're gonna do." Lusana gestured for all three others to gather around. "We need to locate the missiles and destroy them before they're moved out. First up is their security and surveillance area. Austal, you're to disable that and guiding us to where the missiles are stockpiled. We can't move anywhere where there is monitoring until you've taken control."

"I'm on it." Austal knelt down, putting the laser on his back and having the suppressed M57 out. He started forward.

"Hey kid, you gonna be okay alone?" Fowler asked.

"Austal's been by himself multiple times." Lusana reassured him, "He knows what to do if he's in trouble."

"I certainly do cap." He saluted, and then stepped backwards, vanishing into the night.

"We can certainly get moving to the unwatched areas." Lusana turned back to his team, "Let's go Eon."

Austal caught the body as it fell. The Venom he had just killed was standing idly facing him for the longest time. If that was him being on patrol, he would've gotten bored and moved on. Then it seemed as if he had spotted the camouflaged Spartan. He had time it perfectly and shot him five times. Fortunately, nobody else was around to see the kill.

He was only at the front of the courtyard, using the flower gardens for cover. A fountain was in the middle splitting a concrete pathway that was smeared with black treads from the tank. Only a few guards really moved, but for the most part, they remained at their posts. He had plotted his pathway across within seconds.

For some reason he was really anxious. When he was training for the Spartans and even conducting drills to be in the 37th, he had been instructed to work alone. The unit had to excel in working as a team along with solo and anxiety was a symptom of failure when working alone.

Keeping calm was the best thing to do. It really sucked when your breath became more rigid, palms began to sweat and your mind was running a hundred times faster than normal. He shook his head, there was a lot at stake here. Just imagine if Gabrielle was a hostage in there.

He cursed himself for thinking about her, while she wasn't of any relevance to the mission it still managed to calm him a little, but the thought of her being a hostage wasn't pleasant at all. In the short time he'd known her, Austal felt that she was much more to him than what he imagined. He suddenly wished that he left a recorded message back at base.

Moving quietly across the courtyard, the security station was to his left off of the main road by a sidewalk. There were no prints in the grass which meant that the guards would use the concrete path when moving to and from the building. He did likewise; his own prints were much bigger due to the armor and more noticeable.

The station was basically a rectangular building that looked like another trailer just parked off to the side. Inside were an array of security measures, cameras and a tactical map of the military movements. This would be advantageous.

The door was one of the heavier versions, sporting large bolts to reinforced armor. Of course, he could break his way in via a lotus mine or a breaching charge. Unfortunately, he needed the two lotus mines equipped and he had no breaching charges. So he had to find an alternate way.

Holding his PDW in one hand, he rapped his knuckles thrice on the door. He had approached the building in camo in case there was a camera overhead. Even if there was, the sound would confuse them to go and take a look.

Austal heard a creaking sound; the guard was opening the door. As soon as he heard the final lock unlatch, he went forward in a shoulder barge. The heavy door was suddenly thrown back, crushing whoever had opened it. He saw three other men in Venom's fatigues all sort of startled of what he had just did. He never let them come to a conclusion. A trio of bursts from his silenced weapon dropped them to the floor.

With the control room secure, he stuffed the bodies into a corner. There was no camera inside to observe the operators so it went completely unnoticed. He shut the door again, now viewing the guard that had opened it, with his newly caved skull that killed him instantly.

"Eon Lead this is Austal. I've taken the control room."

"Good to hear Austal. We're about ten meters from the motor pool and are blocked by one of the tigers."

"Affirmative. I think there may be a maintenance tunnel nearby." A light blinked from one of the other consoles and he shifted over, "Standby."

"_This is Viper One, control radio check."_

Austal keyed the mic, "_I read you Viper One, all clear."_

"_What is going on? You're checking in a few minutes late." _Wow, he talked French really fast. Marcus rapidly went through his head of the slur of words spoken.

"_Nothing's wrong. Felt a little sick, that's all."_

"Viper One" laughed, "_It must've been the dinner. See the doctor when your shift ends in an hour."_

Although indirectly, he had just been given a critical piece of intel.

"Eon Lead, Austal again. I found a maintenance hatch just behind the motor pool. Be advised that we have an hour before our cover is blown at the security station."

"Eon Lead copies." Lusana's cold voice never wavered, even when about to infiltrate a secure Venom Wing installation. "We'll be placing charges and locating the missiles in the storage rooms."

"Also I was dismissing an operator callsign Viper One. I haven't heard that said in the Venom's chatter, so we may be in the OA of a HVT."

"Understood. Hold your position at the security and give us a hand in avoiding the patrols. There will be plenty of time to go loud."

* * *

**There will be plenty of that. After all, you didn't bring that Spartan Laser for nothing!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone, you give my writing purpose.**


	20. Viper III

**Unidentified Venom Wing Installation, New Corsica**

**August 24, 2557**

Pine's fist dropped the moment the guard looked away and casually walked in the opposite direction. Guided by Austal, they had finally reached a small room where the garage had been opened. Cardinal's intel was solid when they saw the large cruise missiles stored in small racks just behind the trucks and ready to be loaded.

The cruise missiles weren't as dangerous as nuclear ones, but with long ranges to reach Ville de Lombard and even Cravate, they were still very destructive and alarming if they got into the wrong hands. With the means to launch it, Venom had the possibility to return the tide of the rebel's fight in their own favor.

That's why Eon was there. To make sure that the rebels survived and that no harm by cruise missile would ever come to the population of Cravate or any other New Corsican city. The missiles weren't capable of surface to orbit, so orbiting vessels would be safe anyway.

Fowler moved beside a stack of five missiles, removing the square C-12 charge from his pack. He slid it in between two of them and armed the detonator. The light was nearly invisible despite being in near total darkness.

"Fowler, get down!" Austal hissed.

Instantly, he ducked behind the crate, just in time to avoid another guard coming to admire the missiles. Lusana aimed the red dot on his sight squarely on the man's chest. "Austal, is there anyone else in the warehouse?"

"Not near you guys. There's a duo next to the trucks patrolling away from you."

"Good." He squeezed the trigger, killing the man in a short stream of rounds. "We're clear. Get charges on the other missiles."

"Eon Lead, Austal. You've got some activity at the storage entrance. Looks like they're getting ready to load the missiles. Suggest you exfil while you still can."

"We're on it." Lusana dropped the last block of demo charges in the missile racks and quietly slipped back into the maintenance tunnel. The journey took a while, but they now emerged with a clear sight of the occupied tiger APC.

"We clear to go hot?" Fowler patted the M41 rocket launcher on his back, "I want to use this baby."

"Detonate those charges and eliminate all others. We're burning all Venom personnel to the ground."

"Going hot." Pine held the detonator in one hand and his sniper in the other, "Three, two one." He clicked the button.

A dull rumble came throughout the area. Down in the warehouse, the charges blew the stored weapons to pieces along with the trucks, which had caught fire and spewed fiery shards of metal everywhere. Five seconds later, shouts came across in sharp French. Alarms began coming online and some men were already getting teams to move out and engage, since they knew that their attackers would want to flee. Truth be told, they were likely expecting rebels.

No sooner than after the detonation, Fowler grabbed his rocket launcher and fired directly at the occupied tiger APC. The launcher belched the first explosive in a straight line, impacting the side of the armor and setting off a massive explosion. The tiger was down.

Gunfire came from the front followed by more panicked French. Austal was engaging enemies on the courtyard. There was a large boom that drowned out the rest of the tapping sounds of small-arms.

"I'm pinned!"

"Austal say again!"

"Enemy tank's got me zeroed!"

"Eon, double time it to Austal's position." A handful of Venom had emerged from the motor pool and fired at the uncamouflaged Spartans. Fowler ran first, ignoring the bullet dropping his shields down to nearly half. Lusana remained behind cover, returning suppressive fire. He managed to kill one of them, but two more had broken cover and advanced on his position.

"Grenade!" Pine shouted, already seeing the handheld explosive thrown on a homing course for them. He tapped Lusana just as it pinged on the ground. They returned fire, killing another one before sprinting away, far out of the grenade's radius when it exploded. To help cover their escape, Pine had set off a smokescreen, hoping that the Venom didn't have gear to see through.

They turned the corner, dropping a few enemies when they saw the tank fire off another shell. The shot impacted the barricade, blowing the top off. Austal turned back, his laser painting a glare on the massive 88 millimeter cannon.

The laser suddenly widened in a single devastating beam of destructive power. Cutting straight through the tank's armor, it was completely destroyed. Men on the sides dove for cover when he followed up with his PDW. Lusana and the rest of Eon cut a couple more down as they approached. The Venom turned around to focus on them. Austal made his move and broke cover to flank the enemy.

Lusana's shields brightened up, deflecting the rounds fired at him. With one hand to steady himself on the ground he opened fire with his right. The small but powerful cartridge tore straight through the dated armor and sprayed out crimson blood all over the concrete. Fowler's machine gun was chattering away, literally tearing another one apart. Sweat began to bead at their foreheads when they regrouped. Pine approaching last, putting a silenced round from his magnum into a surviving Venom.

"Everyone good?" Lusana asked once they were behind the back end of the security station. He noticed a couple more dead right in front of the entrance, suspecting that Austal had killed them right after the detonation. They had rushed to the security area to see what had happened via camera, unaware that he was in control. Nevertheless, his M57 PDW gave them quite the surprise.

"Fowler's good."

"Roger that."

Lusana led them to the gate where suddenly autocannon fire ripped across the courtyard, followed by small arms fire.

"Get to cover move!" Pine shouted when his energy shields flared up. He scoped in on one of the attackers. At first he was confused if they were facing sentry turrets, but he discounted it as they were strafing, opening fire as it moved. "Who the hell is shooting us?"

"Can't get a target!" Fowler laid down a wave of suppressive fire. His rounds suddenly hit pay dirt and it seemed as if a gunman slumped to the ground just in front of them out of thin air.

"The hostiles are at our eleven and one!" Lusana said, "At least that's where the fire is coming from!"

"What the hell are these guys?"

"I bet they're the Viper unit I heard earlier." This came from Austal. He was perched on a ramp that ran to the power to the station, "Seems like they're a spec ops unit."

"What like us?"

"I hope to God not." Lusana let off another long automatic that caught another Viper out of thin air, seemingly.

The spec ops was well armored, a step up from the regulars that they'd faced. Their body suits were Army grade, able to stop most projectiles and even plasma resistant. He was armed with an MA5A assault rifle, the oldest in the MA5 series. If he was right, spec ops were usually dangerous, no matter what weapon they had. However, the Viper had a jacket that went through the armor and his helmet covered the head at an unnatural angle from Eon lead's SMG punching straight through. He wore a mask, curling around his neck so that only his eyes were the only part really visible and unprotected.

The Vipers assaulted in a squad of six, with two already down, the remaining four pursued up front the courtyard. Three of them were steadily advancing forward. Unlike the Spartans, they didn't have channels so that only each other could be heard, so they had to shout in French. The fourth one held back, spotting Fowler and opening up with a BR55 battle rifle.

"Get fire on him!" He shouted as he ducked back behind the wall. He managed to tag him, now displayed the running figure on their HUD. Pine signaled that he'd get him and shifted his position a little further back. He centered the crosshairs slightly ahead and readjusted when he saw the outline slide into cover. He had crouched behind a piece of the destroyed tank. Pine's trigger finger tightened as he shifted again, readying his own weapon to fire.

It was this kind of calming serenity that he loved. His favorite part about being a sniper was the fact that the thing that he was centered on had no idea that he was being watched and about to have their head blown off. His focus was nearly unparalleled and he was in a sense, his own little world with two individuals, himself and his victim. Once he was dispatched, the cycle repeated with the next one. There was no other weapon that gave him the same feeling.

The Viper raised its battle rifle, squeezing off a burst that narrowly missed hitting Austal's helmet. He shifted his aim in mid-fire, previously trying to take down a different foe. Pine quickly put the reticule on the helmet and then squeezed the trigger. He barely budged, anticipating and countering the weapon's predictable recoil. A pinpoint accurate weapon, his aim remained true, a smoky white bullet trail following a lethal round that took the cap right off.

"Sharpshooter's down!" No sooner did he declare it, an engine rumble came from the motor pool. The second tiger was hammering their position with autocannon fire, peppering the team with shards of metal and stone. Missed rounds kicked up small plumes of dirt. Shields sparked, causing the Spartan to retreat back.

"That APC is pissing me off." Fowler loaded the last rocket in the tube and fired.

He was halfway into forming a triumphant fist when suddenly the tiger flashed, exploding the rocket in midflight, well out of harm's way.

"The fuck? How the hell does it have chaffing systems?"

"Deal with it!" Lusana shouted, "Austal, you still have laser charge?"

"Affirmative." He shouldered the weapon when suddenly he saw motion to his left. A Viper had snuck up on him. Cursing not watching his motion tracker, he countered the weapon swing with the laser itself. The brief surprise moment gave him the time to swing his arm and knock the MA5 right out of his hands. Austal finished him off by bringing down the laser projector's stock right to the side of his head. He charged it again, centering his aim directly on the chassis above the six giant wheels. The laser fired, once again, proving its anti-vehicle superiority blowing straight through. The tiger sparked before combusting in an explosion that lit up the night sky. Flames danced on the remains as the blast knocked down the last three Vipers whom Austal, Fowler and Lusana quickly finished.

"Cardinal, mission complete."

"Roger that. Let's get you out of there before they start combing the place."

Sure enough, two swallow gunships began moving across the courtyard, looking for the hidden foes. Eon had activated their camo and already been over the perimeter fence. They paused to regroup at the trees, casting one last look at the destruction they caused. Fires were raging at the destroyed vehicles and smoke from the back of the facility pillared upwards to the sky. The swallows were casting their search beams in erratic directions, trying to trick their foes into a steady pattern. What they didn't know was that Eon was already out.

"Hold up." Pine raised a fist a second before Eon Lead gave the order to move out. "I've got some activity on the road."

Lusana joined him in watching while Fowler and Austal checked the six.

"Where is it?"

"Just exiting the gate, at the two."

Pine highlighted the gate's front, where an armored car was just moving out, surrounded by a pair of older warthogs. The windows on the armored car were tinted enough to even block their metallic vision of anything inside.

"That road goes right near our path to evac. I'm betting that maybe we missed a few missiles and they're pulling them out while they still can."

"Cardinal, we have eyes on an enemy convoy that left in a haste. We're going to set up an ambush and see what they're so desperate about moving."

The commander paused before replying, "Copy Eon, just make sure you make the evac site on time. We won't get a second chance to pull you out if you miss."

Lusana turned back to the other Spartans. "Okay, we've spotted a convoy that's going to head right to the road in front about six meters. We're going to set up an ambush and find out what they're taking out so quickly."

Fowler gestured to Austal, who held out his lotus mine. "How many you going to put down?"

He shrugged, "One should take care of the first one." The lotus mine was shaped just like the flower named after it. It was an anti-armor mine that had enough explosive penetration power to rip straight through scorpion armor. Of course, if they ran across the armored car holding more missiles, they had his Spartan laser and second lotus. If the armored car carried something else, then they'd be out of luck. That's why they kept the car intact in their tactic.

Pine would deal with the rear guarding warthog while the other three took care of the frontal escort and any personnel inside.

Austal stepped up front, scooping some dirt over the metal so that it blended in with the surrounding roads. He then stepped away, leaning over the side to activate the arming sequence.

"Mine's armed."

"Fall out and wait for my signal. Convoy's ETA is twenty seconds."

They heard the vehicles approaching before they saw them. The warthog's white light contrasted with the dull orange glow of the fires behind. Austal watched as the driver continued up the hill, straight to where the lotus lay.

Lusana kept his fist up, all of Eon was in sort of a column formation, with Austal and Fowler right behind him and Pine almost back to the treeline's end where he would be ready to snipe the rear warthog's gunner out of his perch.

All in a split second, the mine sensed the incoming warthog and detonated in a teeth-jarring explosion. The frontal warthog was thrown up in the air, already wrecked and missing the rear tires.

Lusana blinked his green light.

The three Spartans sprang forward, Fowler sweeping towards the rear warthog while Lusana and Austal stormed the armored car. Fowler had his pistol out and jerked the warthog's driver out of his seat before he realized what had happened. He leaned over to see that he had just ambushed a group of Vipers.

"Shit." He looked to see the gunner leaning down to see what had happened. Before he could draw his pistol on him, a sniper shot cracked from the hilltop. The Viper manning the Vulcan turret on the back collapsed on the dirt, a clean bullet wound through his chest.

The Viper riding shotgun was shot thrice by Fowler. He leaned forward, limp.

Brett waved at Pine, who returned the gesture. There was more panicked French dialogue coming from the armored car. "Rear warthog's clear."

Back at the armored car, Lusana opened the shotgun seat wrenching the startled Viper out of his position. He shot him as soon as he was free.

The driver had turned to Lusana only to find himself looking at a knife, whose blade was stuck inside his own chest cavity. Austal retrieved his weapon before putting out a green light.

More voices came from the car's back, snapping all four Spartans to attention. They crossed over to the heavy set of doors. The locks were both capable of being opened from the inside and the outside, although the former required clearance to open. Just as Marcus was about to touch the door, he jerked back when the rattling of gunfire thumped from the other end. He was saved by the heavy doors, who had accepted the useless punishment.

"Looks like there may be Spec ops inside."

"How about we find out?" Pine was helped up to the top windows by Fowler and he broke the glass, tossing a flashbang inside. They heard it go off and this time Austal yanked the lock without any warning.

Two Viper spec ops members were inside, which the Spartan took down. The remaining five were all huddled in seats towards the back. Unlike their Viper captors, they were all unarmed, tied and blindfolded, scared out of their minds when the ambush started.

"Hostages?" Austal looked back at Eon Lead. "Who are these people?"

Lusana stepped aboard, moving to one of the hostages. He now saw that it was a business suit, stained with blood and covered in dirt. "Blindfolds off."

Austal cut through one of them with his knife. The man looked strangely familiar to him. Both of them had quite the surprise after recognizing the other.

"Governor Soir?"

"_Who are you?" _The head of the ousted New Corsican government asked in a mix of timid and defiance.

"_We are friends and are here to get you out."_ Austal spoke in his native tongue, he knew that same languages tended to make others feel more at ease. "_Stand by. My friends are getting ready to evac everyone. Please speak English to the others as they can't understand one New Corsican to another. These men from your cabinet?"_

"_Yes. Thank you so much." _He flawlessly switched languages as if it were a switch. Soir spoke with a French accent, but it was still understandable. "You are Spartans. From the UNSC." It was more of a revelation statement than a curious question.

Lusana stepped forward, finishing off the bonds that bounded the last adviser. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to stow the questions for later. You came to us in that convoy as a surprise. Had we not lurked for a minute longer after we raided the Venom installation, we would not have found you."

"What the hell is all this commotion back here?" Fowler demanded rounding the corner, he looked past the other two and saw Soir plus his cabinet inside the vehicle. He relaxed almost instantly, "Oh never mind."

"Fowler, tell evac that we have some more passengers."

"Uh yeah sure thing."

They managed to get the group moving towards a large clearing about two hundred meters away from the installation. Pine was already overwatching for any possible threats. The swallow gunships no longer sounded in the distance, which meant they left or had powered off.

"Oh that's new." He finally said when he recognized the governor.

"Tell me about it."

Thirty seconds elapsed and they finally popped the flare that cast a light over an approaching pelican. The pilot veered around and opened the ramp to the rear bay.

"Cardinal." Lusana knelt down as the advisers were helped aboard by the Spartans, leaving just him, Austal and Soir on the ground. "Eon Lead. Convoy was carrying HVT Soir plus advisers. We're evacing them with us."

"Say again Eon Lead?"

"Governor Soir was inside the convoy along with a handful of his administration. We are bringing them with us for evacuation."

"Wow. I'm not sure what to say for that. Must've been really lucky. I think Venom's days in power are numbered."

"Indeed. We're en route back." Lusana stepped aboard.

"Excellent work Eon." Cardonal said.

Austal gestured to Soir. "Let's get going. Your people are awaiting your return."

* * *

**With the deposed Governor now safely secure and the resistance movement pushing closer to the capital, the conflict is nearly over. However there is still much to do.**

**In other news, I have started on short bios for the Blades characters. Eon will eventually get their own as well. It can be viewed on my userpage. **

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	21. Finale I

**Cravate, New Corsica**

**August 27, 2557**

The interior of the pelican was lit up as it cruised up high above the New Corsican capital. Eon eagerly sat around the portable pedestal, awaiting Cardinal to brief them on their next instructions.

The past three days had been quite haywire for the UNSC and the New Corsican people. Governor Soir never really mentioned Eon's involvements in his rescue, saying that it was will, determination and a stroke of luck that had him break free of the Venom Wing party's chains. Now he had turned the city's people against their current governor and the Venom troops that backed him up.

Riots had been predicted and had broken out in a startlingly peaceful manner twelve hours after the statement. Now the streets and buildings were crowded with people, all demanding the party's abdication and Soir's return to power. He wasn't the best governor New Corsica had, but he was definitely better than the incumbent Maglette. Soir had led the relief efforts the colony made to other ravaged worlds during the Covenant invasions.

Lusana strode to the back of the cabin, watching the buildings underneath them. He held his personal comlink to his ear and pushed a few buttons before connecting it to his headset.

"Hey." He said after a while of ringing, his voice having to be raised to be heard over the dull roar of the engines, "It's Dad."

"It's Daddy. How are you? Yeah, happy birthday son!" He chuckled, "You must be having fun!"

Austal knew Lusana had a family back on the city of Houston on Earth. He was married to an education administrative secretary and had two young boys. Eon Lead had been away from his family for quite a while and he was supposedly getting a large amount of leave to spend time with them. He already had unlimited pass tickets to a local amusement park as a surprise gift for his return.

"Good stuff man." He said, "Mom let you pick the place?"

Fowler shifted in his seat. He reached down and picked up the M90A CAWS shotgun, sliding green colored ammo inside the empty tube. This time, he was fitting it with slug rounds. Basically big bullets, they required more precision and accuracy than the usual buckshot shells that he used. Since they were heading into a civilian dense area, he couldn't afford to have stray pellets hit and kill someone innocent and caught in the crossfire. That being said, he had his M41 rocket launcher to deal with armored opposition, but he had been ordered not to use it unless he had to.

"Yeah." Lusana grinned. A rare thing for all three Spartans to see happen. "Well tell your mom. No! I'm sorry. Dad's… well how do I put this?" He looked down at the M7S on his hip holster, "Daddy's gonna go to work."

Austal had been sitting right next to him and he thought tears were forming in his own leader's eyes. When not being a supersoldier and guardian of humanity, Tony Lusana was a loving father and devoted husband. He hoped that he would be able to follow in his own leader's footsteps in raising a family one day.

"Yeah. You too. I love you." He put down the comlink's connection. Just like that, his fatherly persona had gone, replaced by the icy rigid Eon Lead that they'd seen so much.

"Okay people." He gave Austal a friendly punch to the shoulder, "Let's get to work."

"Hell yeah!" Pine bumped fists with Fowler. Lusana tapped the pedestal and quickly linked up a connection with Cardinal. Now, the 37th commander's posture was more energetic and the Enforcer armor he was encased in had a sheen that could be seen through the hologram.

"Good work gentlemen on retrieving Governor Soir. The crowds will hopefully draw most attention on his return to Cravate. In the meantime, Lauczi's people are now finally pushing into the city. I'm sending you in to support them. Overwatch the precession and make sure the tide gets where it's going. Once that's done, we're going after General Jagardere, who's conducting his final defense and likely guarded by a full complement of Vipers. Eliminate every single one of them. We won't be here to do all the fighting, but we'll make damn sure that they win. Clear?"

"Clear." Lusana switched off the holotank. "Twenty seconds."

The pelican's hatch popped open, the silence in the cabin giving way to the loud rush of air outside. The tall sleek buildings of Cravate towered over, surrounded by smaller buildings further out.

Whenever people thought of New Corsica, Cravate and Ville de Lombard were the first to come to mind. Cravate was considered one of the most culturally deep cities within the entire Inner Colonies. It was situated on the coastline of the namesake Cravate Bay, expanding into lesser cities that bordered the water towards the south. Many unique shaped buildings were on the skyline, from hotels to giant corporate offices. Every year, there was a famous festival about the arts, films, entertainment and attracted celebrities from all over the systems.

Plus it was Austal's hometown. Residents usually spoke English, but occasionally people would run across someone who knew the basics and knew Italian or French like none other. It had been forever since he had last been to his true "home" city.

The streets had been clear of moving vehicles, save for scorpion tanks used by Venom in emergency to push back the crowds. A few swallows flew around the skyline, but paid the pelican no attention at all. Most likely because a shootout would cause the crowd to go wild and cause deaths that could've been easily avoided.

The pelican hovered ten feet above a sidewalk off the road. The Spartans jumped down, bending their knees to absorb the shock of the impact. This street went to an overpass towards downtown was empty. Another bridge up ahead of them was just covered with people slowly marching towards the governor's residence, a symbol of the power wielded by the colony.

"Camo's active." Pine reported as the familiar invisibility kicked in.

"We need to be sure about our targets. They raise the alarm; we're done before we even start."

An engine rumble shifted their focus. Eon hid in various places alongside the street, watching a quartet of scorpions roll by. "Hostile armor. Dead ahead."

"Wait for it to pass."

Three of the scorpions continued down the straight road. One of them stopped, turning down the pathway towards Eon's watch point.

"Pine's moving." He shifted out of cover, slowly crossing the street. There was debris and paper cluttered all over so their boots crunched with every step they made. A few civilians ran in the opposite direction the tank had gone. It was likely they were just scared out. It was going to be ugly real quick for the Venom if they opened fire on their own people. None of them noticed the four camouflaged figures heading away.

The tank had parked at the end of the large shopping square. There was a couple of smashed cars with large tread prints over them, surrounded by white shattered glass. A half dozen standard soldiers patrolled around on the pathways.

"We don't have the firepower to engage the tank, slip it." Lusana ordered.

"What do you mean we don't have the firepower?" Fowler patted the rocket launcher on his back, "Take a couple of shots from this baby and that tank's done."

Pine was at point and gave a holding signal. Dead in front of him were three of the soldiers in a circle, all conversing with one another in French. A minute passed when one of them waved his hand and they parted ways.

"Clear. Head up." He continued moving.

Their target building was a large tower that was on a major intersection of downtown. There Eon would eliminate the snipers on adjacent rooftops as well as any armor posing a threat to the people. Once the path had cleared for Governor Soir, Eon would then be heading to the Venom Wing Party's headquarters a little closer to the governor's residence and take down General Jagardere, along with his Viper guard.

They slipped through the automatic doors without notice and came right to a stop at the bottom of the massive spiral set of stairs that led up higher than what even their augmented eyes could see.

"You gotta be shitting me." Fowler drawled.

"It shouldn't be more than twenty flights. Get up."

Austal sighed as he made his way over, now on point. There was no need to be ready though as his motion trackers were cold. Still, they'd been warned that plenty of Vipers were crawling around, with a military grade gear that made even the Spartans of Fireteam Eon on edge.

Of course, heading upwards on a slant was a part of even basic Marines training. The workout was made more difficult by their sixty pound packs slung behind them. Here, Eon found themselves with aching muscles. Even with augmentations giving assiatance, multiple flights of stairs was more than enough to wear the Spartans down. Austal cursed at that fact. They were never really slowed by desert, arctic or jungle conditions, but come on stairs?!

"Jesus, why the fuck is the power out? The elevator is faster, plus I wouldn't be panting right now!"

"Hey Fowler," Pine teased, "If you wanted to sit all day, you should have joined the Air Force Pilot Academy."

"Yeah right." He shot back, "And if I wanted to go climb flights of stairs all day I would have joined a fitness club."

Lusana gave a grunt while Austal just looked back in disbelief.

The balcony extended out a few feet, blocked by a safety concrete barrier. Nearly two thousand feet up, their point offered an excellent view of the beautiful city, plus the crowds down below.

A lone sniper was perched atop the area and he was quickly dispatched by Austal's M57. He and Pine were going to be shooters while Fowler acted as their flank guard and Lusana spotted for the two.

"The pelican didn't have the idea of just dropping us on the roof huh?" He was still griping about all those stairs, "I can't wait to go down all of those stairs again."

Seemed Lusana had enough. He glanced over as he removed a pair of spotting binoculars from his hip, "Fowler, police the noise."

Whenever a man like Tony said that, people usually ended up shutting their traps, no matter what issue they were having. "Cardinal, Eon's got our eyes and ears open. Waiting for you to mark the targets."

"Affirmative Eon. We're scanning now, be aware of enemy air in your AO."

"Copy." Just as he finished, a swallow gunship flew over the intersection, disappearing behind the tower across from them to attend to whatever.

The other three towers had Venom soldiers on their balconies, all aiming their snipers downwards to shoot anyone that deviated to attack anything representing their ultranationalism. The left building was their first target. Eon Lead had already put the spotting gear to his visor and marked three targets on the sharpshooters' HUD.

Austal placed the M57 on his back, releasing his grip once he heard the magnetic plates snap the weapon in place. He didn't have a sniper rifle, but the M392 Designated Marksman Rifle was the next best thing. The one he carried had a nickel plate finish as well as an angled foregrip for increased control. The barrel length was extended than standard issue, increasing the range but at the same time hampering maneuverability, lastly a cylindrical suppressor was at the end to muffle the shot. In a sense, it was a sniper weapon that wasn't really a sniper rifle. Although mostly superseded by the newer M395, the M392 remained a favorite with spec ops teams and colonial militaries due to its versatility and good range, a sniper type weapon that was cheaper than the sniper rifles themselves. Austal would take out closer targets, while Pine handled the longer range.

"On you." He said, yanking the charging handle and quickly set up the attachable bipod on the barrier.

Austal put his helmet to the scope, already the reticule over the first sniper. "I'm locked on target."

"Good." A white line traveled over from Pine's muzzle to both Lusana's and Austal's HUD. The line indicated his firing and also told them that he would kill the target. Austal took the second and they both followed their aims as the snipers moved casually about on the rooftop.

"Go!" At his command, both Spartans pulled their triggers once. The anti-material and 7.62 NATO round ate their distances in less than a second later. Through their HUD's they saw the targets collapse onto the concrete.

The third icon of the soldier started running across the balcony. Austal tracked him instantly snapping the scope up again. Lusana didn't need to give him permission to fire. As he ran, the Spartan fired a hair in front, hoping he'd run right into the path of his bullet.

The sniper was lifted off his feet, cartwheeling over his head while falling. The corpse dropped the rifle and settled down, loose parts of the uniform spilling out around and fluttering in the light breeze that graced the rooftops.

"Target down." He stated with a hint of smugness. Pine was in his doubts of being able to make that shot, but in reality, the Spartan sniper did that as a morning warm up exercise.

Lusana saw a glint of something on the center tower and barely got the words out to get down before a pair of sniper bullets zoomed out. The first one missed Austal by a fraction of a couple inches while the second one, slammed into Pine's shields, overloading them and causing him to fall back in shock.

"Snipers!"

* * *

**Kicking off the overwatch on the most dangerous mission Eon was undertaken in this whole crisis! There will be plenty of action in the coming chapters!**

**I'm beginning my long journey back after a relaxing break, so I might not be able to post another chapter for a few days. Not that anyone cares...**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	22. Finale II

**Cravate, New Corsica**

**August 27, 2557**

"How many?"

"Two of em!" Lusana had just looked over the barricade before another shot ripped over the skyline. It impacted the concrete barrier, exploding in a mini puff and showering him with small chipped pieces.

"We got a third sniper on the right rooftops!"

Fowler looked back over to the trio, all hiding from snipers who had rotated firing shots to keep them pinned. He shouldered his rocket launcher and made sure he had only one missile in the tube. The second one was removed and stored for later use.

"They got me zeroed!"

"I got the one on the right. Peg him!" Lusana shouted.

Austal moved to the left, hoping that the snipers would expect him to pop out at the same spot for an easy kill. He knew that their scopes would shift their aim to where he had ducked down. The small moment would buy him enough time to eliminate at least one of them. The sniper had been highlighted in his HUD so he shifted his DMR's scope over center on the head.

Three…two…one. Keeping it center as best he could, Austal leaned out and fired a single round. The shot accelerated downrange, just as the sniper on the right was about to look back out. Slamming into the side of his forehead, the sniper was knocked down and Austal gave a smile when he didn't get back up.

"Enemy down!"

Pine's sniper rifle kicked back from his shoulder, "Hostile elimated!"

The last sniper fired another round, this one going wild and hitting the glass above them. Shards rained down, causing the Spartans to raise an arm in protection.

"He's not giving up so easy is he?"

"Neither am I."

They turned to see Fowler crouching nearby, holding his M41 towards the sniper tower, "Bon Voyage." He quipped as he pulled the trigger.

The sniper must've tried to run when he saw the rocket coming at him. It would've made better sense just to try and shoot another round in the warhead. That would've detonated it harmlessly out of anyone's reach, but instead, it light up the figure of a fleeing sniper, blowing him against the concrete barrier where he lay unmoving. The explosive had blackened the floor where it hit and made a small crater, trailing smoke out of it.

Suddenly autocannon fire ripped from somewhere higher than them as a swallow seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The rounds impacted the back, causing clouds of dust to blanket them.

"Go!" Lusana urged to the entrance to where they had come. Using the pause between the burst to keep the gun from overheating, Eon made a quick and efficient exfil before the swallow's operators could get a good look at the opposition.

The team huddled by a tinted window, watching as the twin-tailed gunship hung around for a few seconds longer before descending downwards out of sight.

"Cardinal," Lusana checked in as they went back down the stairs again, "Hostile targets neutralized."

"Copy Eon, get moving towards the Venom Wing Headquarters. Keep an eye out for enemy armor and air support. The more chaos that crowd creates, the better your shot at the military head of the Venom will be."

"Will do. Eon out." He waved the others over, "Good work, we're closing in on Jagardere."

Fifteen minutes later, Eon was advancing up a street camouflaged by their suits and under the watchful eyes of a pair of machine gunners. Barricades had been erected to try and dissuade the crowd from coming down in this direction. The road would go over a monorail station and then lead straight to the Venom Wing's taken over headquarters. The line was in sight, just behind a few buildings and the bored gunners. It didn't take long to bypass it.

Even if those gunners ran to join the action, they couldn't rip off the turret like a Spartan could as well as carry and fire it, it took a great deal of strength for that. So, they were of little trouble.

Up ahead was some stronger opposition. The square preceded the station, widening out to accompany two makeshift landing pads and a small motor pool. One massive AV-11A swallow was parked on one of the pads, guns being tended to by an armed Venom soldier. The motor pool had no vehicles in it, in place there had been a handful of troops, all looking like they were going to be there for a while.

"No chance in sneaking past. Weapons free."

"They got a bird on the ground." Fowler already had his rocket launcher out.

Lusana patted him on the back, "Then let's keep it that way." He reloaded his M7 and looked around at everyone. Pine and Austal held back a little to provide cover fire with their longer ranged weaponry. "Everyone good."

"Locked on target."

"Roger that."

"Go!" With steely precision, the four Spartans unleashed their surprise assault. Three Venom dropped instantaneous while Fowler shot a lethal explosive towards the aircraft. The rocket struck its cockpit, blasting it to pieces while the man repairing its gun went down with it.

"That was effective!"

"Grenade!" Austal rolled to cover just as a detonation plumed from where he had just been hiding. The Venom instantly dug in to whatever cover they could find and return fire wildly, since they had no idea who or where the enemies were attacking. He was thrown forward next to Fowler who ran over, putting a shotgun slug through an approaching Venom's chest. He staggered back, looking down at the hole through his armor that began to bleed before collapsing.

"Austal, don't tell me that grenade took you down!" Fowler put a hand to his friend's head. He gave out a pained moan in response.

"Where's Tessa?"

"Tessa?" Fowler's shields crackled as a few bullets hit him. He turned back, firing a wild shot and then aiming the second one at another Venom. A trigger pull caused him to fall back down, assault rifle clattering to the ground.

"Yeah my girlfriend."

"Dude, she broke up with you months ago remember? The one you're after is Gabrielle if I remember her name correctly."

"Huh?"

Fowler sighed, heaving as he dragged Austal behind a barricade, "You're still in one piece kid, get the fuck up. I can't drag your ass around all day."

"Austal good?" Lusana asked, in the middle of firing his own weapon.

"Yeah he's fine. Took the grenade a little harder than he expected."

Austal finally managed to get to his feet and shoot his weapon. "How about I return the favor. Huh?!" He visibly pointed to one Venom man, the one that had thrown the grenade. In response, he chattered something in French. The Spartan shot back something in French that seemed to piss him off enough to open fire again. Austal pulled out a fragmentation grenade of his own. He judged the distance and then pulled the pin, tossing it over his head in a fluid motion.

Austal's adversary tried to run off, knowing that he had thrown the grenade next to him. The Spartan had his DMR out, firing the semi-auto two rounds off. The first one caught him in the leg and he stumbled a bit. Austal refocused his aim again, firing one more round that lodged itself in his shoulder, nearly taking it off. The Venom fell down, his blood pooling around the body.

"They're falling back! Keep pressing!" Lusana vaulted over after he had killed another one.

"Rockets away." Fowler squeezed the trigger, sending two more deadly warheads downrange. Two hostiles were vaporized by the first and the second slammed into an abandoned car, setting off an explosion that tipped it upside down. Eon ducked the shots fired by their retreating quarry and moved up.

"Stay sharp." Pine said. "They may be laying a trap for us."

"Contact! Sharpshooter on that balcony!"

"I see him." The sniper wielded a DMR and already scoped in Pine's head, but the latter was quicker. His sniper was too slow to handle and set up, so with one hand, he held his pistol out, delivering one fatal shot that caused him to topple over the balcony and hit the ground with a wet smack. He cringed slightly at the sound.

"Clear. Let's move up."

The monorail station was completely vacant, with a few stands that would allow passengers to scan passes to board. The platforms were up above, accessible by stairs and an elevator. The trains ran automatically, but none of them were at the station. They planned to use the walkway on the other side to cross over to the main headquarters.

"Alright, eyes and ears open."

Fowler was at point, lowering himself over the wide span of the rail.

Then suddenly a faint glow of the headlight of an oncoming train stopped him short.

"Get up!" Austal hissed.

Fowler quickly climbed back on the platform just as gunfire ripped through the train's windows, reducing them to tiny crystals. Once again, they seemed to come from no origin point.

"Hostile spec ops!"

There had to be at least a dozen of the Vipers, all from the front of the two cars to the back. A few had taken cover behind columns while others provided supportive fire. While Fowler bolted towards cover, Lusana sprayed a wide stream of suppressive fire. The bullets caught one of them holding a compact shotgun in the chest. He stumbled, looking down in horror at the seven bullet holes straight through and then collapsed.

Another one tossed a grenade next to Pine, who didn't hesitate to run out. In a swift motion, he scooped it up and whipped it back in the direction it came from. The detonation tossed debris along with sharp bits of concrete. He grinned as one of the Vipers cowering behind a column fell down nearby.

Fowler noticed the shimmer of a camouflaged hostile out of the corner of his eye and was the quicker of the two to react. He brought his M90 to bear, effortlessly pulling the trigger. The muzzle spat the slug out, catching the Viper's shoulder and the kinetic force nearly tore it off, but he went down in a gory death.

The remaining Vipers fell back to the train, maintaining a defensive position. Eon remained where they were, continuing to pour hot brass over their heads and keep them unable to return fire.

"Fowler?"

"Yeah yeah I'm on it." He knelt down with the last rocket in his launcher. Although not a last ditch defense, they had to get the job done before Jagardere spooked and fled. Because if he escaped, they would have a very hard time trying to get him again.

The rocket exploded out in a whooshing sound, taking less than half a second to come into contact with the train, sending it ablaze in a fiery explosion. Any of the spec ops hiding inside died along with the vehicle.

One of them remained, firing wildly in a last ditch attempt to eliminate at least one Spartan, but Austal's DMR denied him that chance. He shouted, "Clear!" Just as the Viper collapsed.

"Eon, this is Hades."

"Go ahead Hades." Lusana gestured for them to take a knee. Automatically, the Spartans ran a quick check through their gear. It never hurt to occasionally inspect the equipment that would keep you alive. Of course, in the middle of a firefight, that chance never occurred. However, Eon was always watching their motion trackers for threats. Even if a fast moving swallow was about to assault, them their sense of augmented hearing would be able to detect it before their motion trackers could.

"I've been monitoring the satellite traffic in Cravate, especially where you are operating. I just got word that Jagardere has deployed a convoy of tanks and armor to stop the crowd by force. They're en route to a street just below your position. Their ETA to your position is about five minutes."

"Understood. Tell Cardinal that Eon is moving to intercept."

"Yeah well what are we going to do about the armor?" Fowler showed his empty rocket launcher, "I'm all out."

"If they're going to run right underneath this rail line, I have an idea." Austal added.

Lusana knew that the clock was ticking by and every second not in action was an x amount of feet that convoy got to suppressing the riots. They were ordered not to be seen or interacting with civilians unless absolutely necessary.

"I don't have time for debate. Austal spit it out. Fowler, Pine, do what he says."

* * *

All over the colonial network, reporters flocked wherever they could to the city streets. The crowd had been slowly moving to the governor's residence and the main district where the governing body of the colony was. The CAA headquarters had been barricaded with tiger APCs and armed men, who stood still in an intimidating show that seemed to have no effect to the civilians.

Gabrielle Addison had just awoken and pulled up the Waypoint news on her datapad. Yesterday, she found herself with a headache and thus had that day off work. Today, her boss had decided that she could use some more rest, since Westbrook did not have a lot of events scheduled today. Tomorrow, was back at it. During that headache, it was quite a pain to go and get something to eat from her own kitchenette. However, things could be difficult whether to satisfy your head or stomach.

The featured article caught her eye; The Second New Corsican Revolution in August

She read about her homeworld all the time, it was certainly a goal in her life to return back there. However, she already knew that it wasn't going to be safe with all of the war going on, but it seemed to be close to a close. Although it was a violent one, New Corsica rarely ever had any sort of conflict, so the Venom Wing's rise to power was quite a shock to the people.

_This is the second major revolution to occur in the UNSC colony of New Corsica in less than a month. In early August, a radical hardline faction called the Venom Wing Party had executed a coup right out of the shadows. They quickly had overtaken the UEG and CAA controlled offices in a move that they had likely planned for years. They had been deemed as hostile by the UNSC, but were unable to interfere due to their possession of orbital surface-to-ship weapons and the policy of firing without warning._

_Resistance forces have been fighting for some time under the command of Colonel Victor Lauczi have been steadily pushing back the Venom forces. During the time of that engagement, they had found the deposed Governor Soir and several of his administrators. The governor has joined Lauczi's forces as they shield him during their current push into Cravate._

_There have been reports of gunfire, occurring at the eastern part of the capital where we believe that even now the parties responsible for the revolution are turning on each other. We will continue to update as more events happen and how this situation will be resolved._

* * *

**Eon is now on the home stretch to the Venom Wing's leadership elimination. However, there's a convoy that needs stopping first!**

**Okay, I lied, I managed to squeeze this chapter in before I commence my long journey home. Hope you enjoyed it and I look forward to posting the next one a few days from now.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	23. Finale III

**Cravate, New Corsica**

**August 27, 2557**

The shimmering of active camo was pretty much undetectable to the approaching convoy of vehicles. Pine counted two tanks and three tigers, all in a straight line and right on schedule.

"You ready?"

"Affirmative."

"Alright kid, you're buying the beer if this doesn't work."

The plan was to collapse the monorail line in front to deny them access to the roads that eventually led to the crowd. Hopefully, the front vehicles would be buried underneath and pretty much out of the fight. Once that was done, they would toss EMP grenades to the remaining vehicles and board the rear units.

There were only a couple C-7 charges between Lusana and Pine, but that was more than enough to knock out the rail line. The part that would be blown up was a significant portion, so he hoped that it would be later shut down or nobody else uses the monorail for this part of the city.

The tanks now were about three seconds from passing underneath.

"Alright, do it."

Austal thumbed the detonator, already moving with an EMP grenade in hand. The device's magnetic pulse would temporarily neutralize the systems inside, preventing the APCs or tanks from any action. As the debris hit the tank and APC with loud clunks, the Spartans all hurled their grenades, they landed next to a vehicle and instead of a conventional explosion, they seemed to produce white bolts of lightning. The tank and its APCs halted in their tracks; some form of energy seemed to dance on the surface.

"Go Go Go!" Lusana shouted. He closed the gap, leaping on top of the tank. With his sheer strength, he had ripped the top hatch off the scorpion. The driver only had enough time to look up in utter surprise before Lusana lobbed a grenade in his lap. He jumped off and dove for cover just as the grenade exploded, completely destroying the tank.

Fowler pumped two slugs into the operator of the tiger while Pine kept an overwatch on the other two vehicles. Austal was sweeping the third APC with his M57. In short, the convoy was completely neutralized within thirty seconds. Now nobody in armor was set to oppose Eon and their mission…hopefully.

"Cardinal, hostile convoy has been taken down. We're proceeding to eliminate the HVT."

"Roger that."

The headquarters was in a large office building that had an enormous holo-ad for jeans. It was a clever disguise, had it not been designated as such on their HUDs, then most people would dismiss it as just another building. The only thing that would catch attention was the ad, featuring a half naked girl lying on her back.

"Main entrance is probably heavily guarded. We're gonna get in through the side."

The main area had a twenty foot high atrium with a holo-display of the rotating planet as well as several important heads since the colony's founding. There were two squads of Venom soldiers inside, all awaiting anyone who dared to approach. Any civilian for that matter would be mowed down in a heartbeat. Even Eon would think twice before heading inside that way.

Eon activated their sticky palms and quietly ascended the glass side. They eventually worked their way left towards the center so that the jeans advertisement would cover their approach. Especially when moving, their camo generators could only cloak them so well.

They were about fifteen feet up when Austal first began to feel his muscles burn with lactic acid. The weight of his weapons wasn't that heavy, but it definitely contributed. The only one not opening up about his own tiredness was Lusana of course. He was just as tired as the others, but he just didn't express it.

"Ugh." Austal halted for a few seconds, "I fell like someone should be on the roof dropping bricks."

"Bad time for PT." Pine added. He had the worst maneuverability, with the sniper rifle's barrel extending past his frame. That meant that going up narrow spaces were going to be bad. The weapon could be damaged and have its own performance altered for the worse.

"We'll stop here." Lusana highlighted the floor just above the atrium, "The elevator should take us right to Jagardere's office."

Fowler produced a glass cutter and widened the size to its maximum. They waited for a couple minutes until he grasped the suction areas and set the panel inside when he fit through. It was a tight fit, but they had to be careful, as even the sound of shattering glass along with the wind could raise the alarm. The only thing wrong was that once they reached the top, all aspects of stealthily advancing were long gone. All that would matter then would be the death of the HVT.

Pine went after Fowler, then Austal and Lusana brought up the rear. He put Marcus on point to the elevators located at the other end of the building. The walkway circled around the atrium below in an "O" shape. Even more Venom had now joined the remainder of those barricading the front.

Austal suddenly held up a fist, causing the team to freeze, "Hostile, at our twelve." He then pushed his palm downward, a hand signal to go prone.

"Kid, he's asleep." Fowler stifled a chuckle.

"Yeah he is." In a swift motion, Austal had wrenched his arm around the man's neck, easily twisting it until a muffled pop was heard. He looked over at the datapad that had fallen out of his fatigues when he killed him. Displayed was a voice message broadcasted over the main holo-screens of Cravate's skyscrapers and media outlets from the "governor" Julian Maglette.

"Even now some of the butchers and scum threaten to erase all the great gains we have made together! Rise up, my fellow patriots and suppress these pointless riots that would return us to the corrupt and slow-growing regime before our great reformation!" His speech would probably go on deaf ears, since now his support had quickly deteriorated within a few days.

Maglette wasn't a very big man and Eon saw nothing that made him special to give an edge of any politician. He had whiting hair that was retreating and a couple of wrinkles around his eyes that betrayed his age. He was dressed in a business suit with a blue tie. All in all, a seemingly harmless man, but his influence had driven the colony further from its UNSC founders, hampering any part of its true growth and potentially making it an area for terrorists to operate without worry.

Over the side in the atrium, the tapping of gunfire suddenly erupted, followed by dialogue of movements and covering fire. Eon crawled over to the edge, still on their bellies.

A second group of Venom soldiers had rushed inside, guns blazing. The defenders had set up many pieces of cover and they traded fire with the other party, although they were being eliminated will many well thrown grenades.

"Think this is one of the splinter parties?" Pine asked.

"Possible." Austal nodded, "They probably want Jagardere's head just like us."

Lusana knelt down, his camo still active, "Then we better get there before they do."

Leaving the gunfight behind, they came to the elevator doors. They were shut, since the car wasn't at their level, so Fowler and Austal pulled them apart, holding it for the other two to enter. They moved to the section in between the shaft, where a service ladder ran up and down the shaft's sides for maintenance workers.

There wasn't any need to voice orders. Austal grabbed the first rung of the ladder and started his long way up. As they ascended, Fowler was the last one on the ladder. He spotted a power conduit about halfway up and put a shotgun slug through them. That way, if any of either Venom side battling in the atrium wanted to use the elevator, it wouldn't go any further than that, which was halfway between floors.

The door at the top floor was locked, but smashable. As soon as he broke through, he was forced into cover by a wide spraying mounted MG at the far side. It preceded another large room of offices behind. Between them and that second room were a few Vipers, all with battle rifles and providing longer range suppression. Several cubicles had been cleared, leaving only small certain points for cover. Eon quickly dashed to various positions and returned sporadic fire. Austal killed a pair with his DMR, but had his shields shot out by the machine gun. Pine was right next to him, tossing a smokescreen to help him recover his shields.

Fowler's shotgun wasn't able to reach that range at a really accurate stage, so he switched to his M6G handgun, hammering one Viper with four bullets and the fifth punching through the helmet.

"Flanking the gunner, keep your heads down!" Lusana had slowly crept to the right, watching as the gunner focused on Austal again, who had fired his DMR as a distraction.

A desk provided enough to mask his approach close to his left and he rounded the corner. The gunner found himself knocked off the controls and then Tony smashed the butt of his M7S into the back of his neck, snapping it. "Gunner neutralized."

"There's still one more out…" Fowler marked a running Viper that was in mid-camo. "I got him."

He set off in full pursuit, catching up to him in seconds. He had turned around to fire his rifle, but Fowler had hipfired his shotgun. At close range, the slug tore a massive hole through the armor and lifted the Viper completely off his feet to land in a pool of shattered armor and his own blood.

"Clear!"

The Spartans sprinted straight to the next room.

Right into a place full of Vipers.

Pine snapped his sniper rifle up and fired only one shot before the team was forced to duck back to avoid being ripped to shreds. Austal spotted Jagardere, in his general uniform and he sported shoulder, chest and knee armor. He cradled an assault rifle and returned fire along with his Viper bodyguards as they fell back.

Eon rose again, ready to assault just as Jagardere's men had shut the door and shot out the lock to prevent their entry. That was a futile move, as a simple wood door that had a jammed lock was hardly child's play to stop a Spartan.

"Activate metallic." The Spartans complied. Inside, there were about a dozen Vipers, all stacking up by the door with weapons raised. The ones in the front held compact shotguns while further back Vipers trained their assault rifles all on the entrance. Jagardere was at his desk in the far side, gesturing and shouting orders to his men, sidearm in hand.

"They look prepared." Pine joked, "Ain't that typical."

"Certainly is." Lusana halted as they approached the head office, "We're gonna do a flashbang breach, but we're not going through that door." He led them to the left side, where the breaching would cause them to enter at an angle that wasn't covered.

"Stack up." Austal teamed up with Fowler, who had placed his last breaching charge at the wall. Austal topped off his M57, flashing his green light and standing behind the larger Spartan, giving him a tap on the shoulder to indicate his readiness. Lusana and Pine were doing the same thing further down.

"Go!" Fowler hunched further down, clicking the charge. No sooner afterwards, Austal and Pine primed flashbangs, tossing them inside the man-sized holes.

"Sweep and clear!" Austal shouted as he and Pine emerged, engaging the shotgunners first. He left them to his teammate and instead focused on the ones closer to their general. A couple of shots from the M57 put them down. Fowler and Lusana came into the office seconds later, firing at the remainder.

One of the Vipers stepped forward with his shotgun, but was torn apart by one of Fowler's slugs. Lusana shoulder barged a desk that collapsed on another one, completely crushing him and exposing his body for a flurry of SMG fire. The adrenaline in every Spartan was pumping hard, a thrill which they all became anxious and excited about.

"Austal, take Jagardere!"

"On it!" He mantled over and sprinted straight towards the desk where the Venom military general was cowering behind.

Jagardere was quicker than he anticipated, snapping up his own weapon, an automatic machine pistol and firing a nonstop storm of bullets. Austal flinched and evaded, causing his fire to hit nothing except walls. Back at the front of the office, Fowler jammed his shotgun into the chest of the last Viper and pulled the trigger, ending the time for his protection units.

Jagardere fluidly reloaded his gun and peered over the side where Austal had gone. When he saw nothing, he frowned in confusion.

Austal was quick about moving to the other end of the desk and he came up to his left. Jagardere saw the movement in his eye, but wasn't able to react in time. Marcus smashed his weapon into the side, hitting the rib cage hard enough to hear something crack. As the general began to scream, Austal raised the weapon, firing four shots. The first two seemed to splinter off of armor on his shoulder, since he was unable to really get a good bead on the head. The last two, however hit home, entering, shredding his heart and exiting. Jagardere slowed movements, before collapsing behind his desk.

Austal breathed heavily as he heard the humming sound of his shields recharging, "Cork has been popped. I repeat, cork has been popped." That was the code-word for the target Jagardere's neutralization.

"Cardinal. High Value Target has been eliminated. We're gone." Lusana repeated.

"Roger that. Good work Eon, this one's for the books."

* * *

Eon was already gone once the same reporter for Waypoint summarized the conclusion of the day.

This was a remarkable defining moment for the history of New Corisca and its people. This was the complete dissolution of an illegitimate governing body. Governor Soir and Colonel Lauczi have eliminated the remainders of the ultranationalist party. There were reports of fighting mostly in the Venom Wing's headquarters as most of the coup forces turned on each other. The riots have finally captured the self-proclaimed Governor Julian Maglette. He is expected to face trial and a sentence in the colony's maximum security prison under undetermined circumstances. His associate, General Jagardere was found in his office seemingly shot dead by his own men. Any remaining forces involved in the earlier coup have now fled. Lauczi has announced his plans to help rebuild the damage and then relentlessly pursue those responsible.

* * *

**There is still unfinished business to attend to. This story's finally wrapping up! All chapters have been fully written and will be published very soon! I'm damn proud of where this has gone and the initial success it brought. To be honest, I thought it wouldn't go off as well as I expected it to, but you all proved me wrong!**

**I'm finally back after a huge delay. During my journey back home, about halfway through an unexpected snowstorm had our next stop before home closed and we thus had to spend the night at the town we were currently in. So I was supposed to get back home three days ago, but ended up arriving the day before yesterday.**

**I'm happy to see all of the positive feedback I've been having throughout this entire story. Eager to hear more questions, critiques, comments in the future.**

**For future projects; Get ready to see the return of the Aegis and the Blades in Dark Vein! Teaser's already out as well as developing character biographies for both story series. I'm already a good portion through writing and will commence updates very soon! As for the Eon series, I don't exactly know what I will be doing with it. I really enjoy writing about them, but I think it would be rather bland if all they ever did was go after insurrection groups. There's plenty on the platter for what I want them to do, but as of yet, nothing's set in stone.**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone, you give my writing purpose.**


	24. Finale IV

**UNSC **_**Antietam**_** orbiting New Corsica**

**August 30, 2557**

"Gooooooal!" As soon as the announcer for the gravball shouted the famous words spoken for centuries, the bar erupted in loud cheers. That was followed by excited chatter between servicemen and women with clinking of beer cans. The gravball match today was between the Hyenas and the Thunder. Unfortunately for Fowler, he had missed the Warriors-Leopards match with his home team losing by a landslide.

Spartan Ross Pine accepted the four cans of beer from the bartender and made his way back to a round table. Eon was sitting without their armor in standard casual base fatigues. No Spartan undersuit, no ceremonial uniform, this was the first full day that they had to finally relax.

He handed one can out to each at the table and they all raised them in a silent toast. Lusana was deep in thought, Fowler and Austal resumed laughing about something involving a hair-raising part of the mission. In fact, that's what most UNSC servicemen and women talked about. It all ranged from beer, sports, girl/boyfriends and family.

Pine had read what the reporters on Waypoint had suggested about the crisis. As far as they knew, it was over. New Corsica would rebuild and try to bury this shadowy moment as best they could. Tourism would rise again, but it wouldn't be for a while. Even when the UNSC deemed a place safe after some event that spelled disaster, it was avoided and then back to normal quickly. Human nature, he had to guess.

Cardinal had promised them a longer leave time than what he usually had issued for a couple days. It would commence for a couple weeks once they finished what may be the last mission for this crisis.

Either way, it was good to have a break.

* * *

Austal shut the door to his temporary quarters and finally collapsed on his bed. He had showered during what the ship had its "night cycle" even though watch staff never was off duty, much of the operations would shut down for seven hours starting at 2200 and resuming the day at 500.

This new mission that Cardinal would get back to them may be his final one with the 37th.

It was that damned rule, that alone was going to remove him from the unit. It wasn't because of his capabilities, personality, ethnicity or even his ability to get along with his teammates. It was because he no longer had a fucking relationship.

Maybe Lusana could talk Cardinal out of his removal. The man could persuade most others to do anything, if not by words, he'd have them stare down a gun barrel instead. Then again, he wasn't worth risking for. If Cardinal said no, then it was no, after that it mattered no more how much Tony's persuasiveness came to hand.

He had one chance and it was a vow not to screw it up.

"Hello?" Gabrielle's voice drifted from the other line.

"Hi."

"Marcus!" Like he did last time, her mood brightened instantly, "I haven't heard from you in forever!"

He chuckled, sitting up on the bedside. "Same. How is work?"

"I feel horrible after this headache. What have you been doing?"

"Work. Sometimes I have to be gone for a while."

"Your job sounds dangerous." Gabrielle said.

"It is sometimes."

"Oh."

"Listen," Austal sucked in a deep breath, his nerves and heart rate already going up. "Will you be busy in a few days?"

"I only have to work tomorrow and then I'll be off for a full week. Why?"

"Here goes nothing." He murmured too quietly for her to hear, "I was wondering if you would like to go out on a date with me."

She paused, "A date?"

"Yes."

"Didn't we go on a date when you took me to that café?"

Austal silently laughed, "That was with your friends. The date I'm talking about is just the two of us."

"Oh." She sounded surprised, "I see."

"You told me that you dated twice."

"Well I never really dated like what you said. Sure, there was some of that romantic stuff, but as you put it a dinner with just the two of us didn't really happen. It was more like a hangout with our college friends so we'd hit on each other."

"I see." Austal said. He could easily afford to go to almost any university on Earth, but he didn't really find anything worthwhile. He had found his true passion of combat and enlisted instead. Of course his parents weren't alive to see it but he knew that they writhed in their graves if they heard about it. It didn't matter, like Gabrielle; he didn't have a very good relationship with them. Unlike her though, they didn't hate each other, but there wasn't any father/mother-son relationship that was solid.

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Well okay." She finally agreed, "I've never really been on a date that you described."

"Don't worry. I'll let you know what it's like. It'll be fun, I promise."

"Okay Marcus, I guess I owe you one. After all you've done so much for me."

"You don't owe me anything." Austal heard a knock on his door, "Listen, I've gotta go back to work. See you soon."

"Marcus?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful. Okay?" It came out as a whisper. His heart almost leapt out of his chest.

"I will. Thanks." Then he hung up. "Come." Austal urged the person inside as he unlocked the door.

It was Tony Lusana. The serious lines usually etched into his face in combat were gone, replaced by a fatherly mask of care, for his family. Austal felt more relaxed like this; heck the Spartans were technically his family! He had three older brothers; Tony, Ross and Brett.

"Who were you talking to, if you don't mind me asking?"

"That was Gabrielle sir." Austal stood to salute, but was waved down.

"At ease Spartan." He looked around, "Mind if I have a seat?"

"Of course not." Both of them were out of armor in their sleek black suits fitting underneath. In MJOLNIR armor, they'd crush the beds that they slept on.

"I know this requirement thing has been tough, it's not the first time I've seen a Spartan removed because of it. You're a good comrade and I sure as hell would never trade you for anyone else." He lowered his head, "But rules are rules."

"Actually, I just asked Gabrielle on a date. She said yes."

"Is that so?"

"Yes sir."

"Well even though it hasn't been declared yet, I guess you're in a relationship now."

"I suppose so sir."

Lusana smiled, "That means that you'll still be staying inside, however we need confirmation."

"You'll have confirmation as soon as we get back to Reach. That's when I'm taking her out to dinner." Austal replied. What gnawed at him was if she found out what exactly his work was. The unit needed confirmation that both of them were together, but at the same time, she could see him much differently, in a negative light. Part of him wished that the rule didn't exist, as he wanted to date to find a meaningful person to spend the rest of his life with, not because he wanted to stick in an elite group of military troops. At this time, he was safely inside the unit...for now.

"Good to hear. You're not out of this unit yet." His leader changed subjects, "And you did a fine job, especially taking out the HVT. I know since it's your homeworld, it is a bit personal for you."

"I saw a man with an iron fist." Austal said, his steel gray eyes unchanged, "I'm proud of where I came from and don't regret his assassination. It was for the good of the UNSC and my fellow people. What's next? I know we're not done yet."

"You're correct." Lusana stood up, "Get some rest and meet up with me at 2100. I'll brief everyone on what we're up to."

* * *

**Eastern Verona Massif, New Corsica**

**August 31, 2557**

"Eon, this is Cardinal, you in position?"

Pine gave a wave with his hand from where he was perched atop a massive branch overlooking the steep slopes. The view was breathtaking, as it preceded a valley that dipped down below all line with tall dark green trees. The very tips were only slightly capped with white snow. In the winter time, people would head to nearby towns of Cirloux and Kaltoma for skiing down long slopes. That wouldn't happen for another couple of months, when snow would completely blanket the faces.

"Affirmative, we've placed the jamming measures."

"Roger that. Get moving past those surveillance devices. Our jammers will fail in forty seconds."

"We're on the way." Lusana edged out from his hiding place behind the giant tree. Looking over, he gestured for Pine to retreat as well.

Up front, they had a service truck for electrical lines parked idly off the main road, to be serviced. Fowler and Austal were standing by the smoking engine out of their armor, engaged in a heated argument.

"Alright boys." Lusana called over, "That's enough."

"Finally." Fowler threw up his arms in mock exasperation, "This guy doesn't even know how to argue with a straight face. I practically had to beat it out of him."

Austal grunted, but said nothing more. All of them were in a standard fatigues for maintenance workers to help comply with the disguise that the security measures were monitoring. The truck was actually in full function and could accelerate to racecar speeds in seconds, the smoking engine was completely artificial, thanks to a modified toned-down concussion grenade they had set inside the hood. Even the banter between Fowler and Austal was made up. Since the cameras hidden about twenty feet away in the trees couldn't monitor sound, it wasn't even about the engine. The details, neither of the team wanted to know.

The jamming sequence would loop part of the gesturing that both Spartans made over the hood in their argument. In forty seconds, it would temporarily resume, which was the next part in their plan.

"Boys, let's get going."

The smoke had worn off by now and thus Pine and Lusana piled back into the truck. The leader got behind the wheel.

"Three…two…one. Okay, camera's back up."

Fowler reached into his pocket, removing a comlink. He spoke into it, even though not even making a call. Then he and Austal piled into the vehicle.

"Alright let's move."

Lusana reversed and made a U-turn that brought the van around the bend of where it had come from. At the same time, Hades had hacked it so that the image of it departing would occur at the same time, then it would be still with only a handful of movements from waving trees. Once the image displayed at the monitoring station was in effect, that was when Eon could move in.

Of course they could've done it from using camo, but the target was on the other side of the mountain with only one road in an out of the place. So thus, a car of some sort was necessary.

The drive took another hour to slowly make their climb up towards the safehouse. The monitoring station was finished with being jammed so it had returned to normal.

Austal kept watch riding shotgun as Lusana drove. Pine and Fowler were quietly sleeping in the back seats.

"So Hades, what's the operation?" Eon Lead would later brief the team, but currently the Spartans sitting up front were the only ones listening.

The AI's datachip was sitting on the dashboard. It gave a white pulse and his avatar popped up. Today, his liquid metal skin guitar was propped against his leg and he scratched at his Mohawk, now dyed purple.

"Well, I've been monitoring what Waypoint has been saying all about the crisis. They think it's completely over. New Corsica's tourism is spiking again now that those people all think it's safe to come and enjoy the beaches and girls. As for Eon, Cardinal insists that nobody's done yet. Hopefully this will be the last operation to shut down the Venom Wing Party after its ousting."

"So what's the plan?"

"The Office of Naval Intelligence has gotten a lead from a media correspondent operating at the safehouse. He's pinpointed the five remaining major leaders of the faction in a safehouse near the mountain's skiing attractions. You are to assault the safehouse by your tactic and eliminate all five targets, no loose ends. Once that's one, exfil silently because the UNSC won't be far behind along with the main part of the press. We don't need anyone knowing about us."

"Everyone set?" Austal moved back to wake up the other two. Inside the truck's back were the cases for their armor as well as an assembly ring. Further back were weapon cases, their armament for their final mission.

"Let's get moving."

* * *

**All that remains is the epilogue!**

**Thanks for reading and reviewing everyone, you give my writing purpose.**


	25. Epilogue

**Eastern Verona Massif, New Corsica**

**August 31, 2557**

The safehouse was a typical French style chateau, with a cream colored exterior and dark charcoal roof. The front had a wide lawn surrounded by metal fences, featuring an internal sensor that would instantly detect abnormal vibrations, a variable many infiltration teams would normally disregard. It was suitable for a residence for maybe a few months, as winter times made it a place to be visited, but not somewhere to live year-round.

Behind the chateau was the balcony that spanned the entire rear side. It offered an unprecedented view of the landscape, even able to see the very tips of the nearby Verona Beach. The Lom Mountain range was to the north, also overshadowing the growing city.

This place frequently saw a peak traveling when winter approached for its slopes that were prime for skiing, snowboarding as well as an entire array of winter sports.

Today, the range was dominated with dark green landscapes that climbed up the mountains. Roads winded at their edges to make their way upwards. Traffic congestion was nonexistent due to the fact that residences were spaced out.

This particular safehouse wasn't overly large, but the fence surrounding the grounds immediately discouraged trespassers. No guards were visible, but it never meant that nobody was there. In the back area of the house, it provided a breathtaking panorama of the valley below as well as most of Verona Beach, a sprawling metropolis that also viewed the ocean from the front row.

One of the butlers of the house stood at the back door of the house, waiting for the slightest signal to be summoned by their clients.

They were five shady men, accompanied by a dozen security personnel with automatic machine pistols. Since the back deck also was large enough for a hover-capable aircraft, the house was an excellent low-profile exfiltration. The five were the next high priority members of the now-fragmented Venom Wing Party.

The butler's fine white gloves had no evidence that they were a year old, looking in mint condition. The silver tray had a small decoration around the rim. He watched as two of the five were engaged in a deep conversation overlooking the edge. Three more armed men stood to the side, casually toying their weapons and keeping a loose eye on their clients. There was no barrier to prevent falling, as support beams ran at an angle underneath to attach to the mountain's face below them.

He placed a glass of an amber liquid on the tray and walked briskly out to the men. One of them threw up his hand, letting out a soft croak. The butler halted straight in his tracks, barely fast enough to keep the liquor on the tray from spilling.

His hand hadn't shot up because of an order.

Before their eyes, he stared down as blood began to stain his white shirt. He knelt down, slumping against the wall at the edge unmoving.

The three guards all had their weapons halfway out of their holsters when a trio of silent killers dropped them all simultaneously. The last one, the Venom leader had already began sprinting away in a hurried fashion.

One of the invisible killers raised his weapon, popping out a muffled gunshot. The bullet entered straight through his pectoral muscles, exiting through the suit via a torn hole in the cotton.

The butler moved away, however he found his face being restrained by another invisible man. A gloved hand with a synthetic pattern covered the palms clamed over his mouth and nose. He struggled, but the larger figure anticipated it and easily moved to subtly counter them.

"Shhh." A darkened voice whispered, "Sweet dreams."

Pine held him while inducing a sleeping narcotic to incapacitate the butler. Sure he was being paid by these madmen, but it was below them to let innocent civilians get in the way. Besides, he'd later wake up with no clue of what had happened. After he slipped into a comfortable sleep, he laid him next to the table and gathered his weapon.

"Confirm kills on targets Buck and Hydro. Austal, Fowler, sweep the back doors. Remaining targets are still in play."

"They're ours."

With their flawless precision, the Spartans crept on. No gunshots were heard outside and the only casualties of the entire raid were the targets and their hired bodyguards. No loose ends were left.

The final target, codenamed Rocket had just emerged from his temporary quarters. As soon as he heard that his security team wasn't responding, he drew a pistol from the nightstand beside the bed and moved past the door's threshold.

Standing at the end of the hallway with one way in and out was a massive black armored figure. The visor atop gave it the menacing look. A black plated pistol fitted with the cylindrical suppressor was loosely held in his hand.

Rocket didn't need an advisor to tell him that the Spartan was here to kill him. He was actually expecting the militia commanded by the New Corsican government.

"So it looks like the UNSC was actually the puppet master after all." He said cynically.

Spartan Marcus Austal raised his weapon, double tapping Rocket before he could react. The remaining Venom Wing leader jerked from the impact of the rounds and fell to the floor facefirst.

"Target Rocket is KIA." His camo kicked in again, fading him from view. "The Venom Wing Party is no more."

"Let's not overstay our welcome."

* * *

Five minutes later, the New Corsican colonial army had surrounded the house in their perception of a tense standoff. Lasting nearly fifteen minutes after specialist teams had found out that nobody was moving inside and no sounds man-made were coming from there. They cautiously checked the house, finding seventeen men dead and a handful of house-personnel knocked unconscious.

Investigators found many cartridges, but the weapons used came up as classified. What was even more puzzling was that any of the witnesses woken up later had no memory of what had occurred. The press had no idea who conducted the raid and how efficiently they had done it.

Fireteam Eon was already out of sight, mission accomplished.

Inside their van, Hades sensed them approaching and he sent out the one signal all Spartans, even the modern-IVs knew too well. The all clear signal.

"Olly Olly Oxen Free."

* * *

**I can't believe it! It's finally finished! It's been such a fun ride, especially with this new series which I believed wasn't going to work very well. Originally, Eon was going to be a team aboard the _Infinity_. They would've been going to Requiem to slay Covenant and Prometheans, however I gave their base of operations back on the partially rebuilt Reach, where they'd tackle all kinds of operations.**

**A sequel is indeed announced! I'm going to be introducing an enemy far more formidable than the Venom Wing with a much more dark plan for humanity and one of the members of Eon has a bit of personal history involved! Much of it is in the planning stage, thus nothing yet set in stone. However as always, there will be new places and Eon will be getting new members!**

**Oh yes, I almost forgot, Austal just asked Addison on a date! Would anyone be interested if I put it up as a bonus chapter?**

**Now with this out of the way, I can now start on Dark Vein!**

**As always, thanks for reading and reviewing, you give my writing purpose.**


	26. The Date

**New Alexandria, Reach**

**September 2, 2557**

"Quit fussing and let me finish your dress." Madeline snapped as Gabrielle pressed out a wrinkle on the breast part of her garment. "This is going to knock him dead."

"Madeline, I've told you time and time again that putting revealing clothing on doesn't help that much."

"You want to bet on that?"

"This is a first date!" Kate said rounding the corner. "This isn't about going to a party to hook up with guys."

Gabrielle hugged her friend, "It's okay. I know you're just trying to help." Madeline gave a nod, "Just have fun with him okay?"

"Marcus will be here in ten minutes." Kate opened the door to Gabrielle's apartment to exit. "Just remember to stay calm and focus. It sounds like a test, but don't dwell on the things that can go wrong. I'm sure you'll have a good time."

She had no idea, but Marcus had already told her friends about what he intended to do for their first date together. He had learned a lot from his previous girlfriend Tessa, including the good and bad things to do. However, he found Gabrielle much more attractive than his previous date. It wasn't just because she was a New Corsican like him, but also her shy personality had oddly rubbed off on him and it seemed unavoidable. It was merely a bonus that her body was toned near-perfectly.

Finally she had something she couldn't wait for.

* * *

It was nearly six-thirty when he had arrived. Marcus had put on a charcoal suit with a white oxford shirt underneath and matching slacks. A ruby red tie finished his overall appearance. He had shaved so that any sign of a beard growing was nonexistent. He had cologne, but decided against applying it, especially on first dates, he wanted to look good, but seem as if he didn't go overboard on appearance.

He went straight to next door and rapped his knuckles thrice on the panel.

"Coming!" He heard her say on the other side. There was a sudden thud of something falling, followed by an "Oh no!"

She opened the door and it took a second for both of them to come back to their senses.

Marcus had his eyes wide open. Madeline and Kate certainly did an excellent job in dressing his date.

Gabrielle was dressed in a strapless lavender silk dress that went all the way down to her mid thighs. Her auburn hair flowed all the way down to her neck where it was circled by a thin gold necklace. Makeup was kept to a minimum, as she didn't really need much to add appeal. Her radiant blue eyes seemed to brighten up the uneventful evening, except following Eon's newly emerged victory in their rematch against Jaguar.

"You look absolutely amazing!" He finally mouthed out.

"Thanks!" She smiled, showing off her beautiful white teeth, "You look very handsome as well."

"I have our dinner reservations as well as the show." He explained when she let him in. The crashing sound earlier was her accidentally knocking over a white and green vase that sat on a shelf near the home's entrance.

"We're going to a show?" She asked, taking out a dustpan and sweeping the shards inside.

"We are. I think you might like it."

He escorted her outside and waited until she locked the door until he took her hand. It felt amazingly small in his own. Nevertheless, the strong Spartan treated it with the utmost delicate handling.

Gabrielle looked at Marcus' car and gasped, "No! How?!"

"An old friend let me borrow it for the night. Just told me to bring it back with zero dents and a full fuel meter." Marcus opened the shotgun door in Fowler's Capri Dragon, not wanting to think about that exchange back on base. "Thought maybe we could go have dinner and watch a show in style."

"It's a fast car." She remarked.

"Sure is, but wait until we get on the highway."

They loped through the evening traffic before taking a ramp on the highway, where Austal's foot added more pressure on the accelerator. The Dragon's engine roared to life and it eased ahead of the surrounding traffic. Gabrielle was amazed at people gawking at their ride. The display was a luminous orange-yellow color that spelled futuristic.

She looked over at Marcus, who had a thin smile on his face. He seemed like someone who would find a touch of adventure everywhere he went, always optimistic and seeking a positive, no matter how bleak the situation would be.

He took a ramp off and turned through several intersections of the growing city. The district was just outside of the New Alexandria starport and had several modern shopping centers and restaurants for newly arrived tourists or those on a trip to visit. He ignored all the casual dining and went straight to a European Bistro all with its own private parking lot and valet, although he declined the offer.

"This is why I asked to dress up." He explained, quickly parking Fowler's car, "You'll stick out if you're not."

Austal got out before moving over to her side of the car to help her out.

The restaurant's interior was dark, yet provided a contemporary lighting of red and white. Patrons eating were all dressed up just like they were. Men were in uniformed suits with varying dark jackets and the women all wore solid colored dresses that sparkled from the shiny parts sewn into their dresses.

Gabrielle was about to explode. Never had she been this nervous. After all, how bad could a date really be?

"Austal correct?" A pretty blonde haired waitress was speaking with Austal.

"That's right."

"Just to verify," She swiped something away on the pad that was at the waiting table, "You have a reservation for two?"

"Two."

"Alright follow me." Austal looked back, momentarily lost because he couldn't find her. He passed between another couple to find her standing there.

"Come on." He gestured. When she didn't respond, he became more concerned, "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" He must have surprised her, "Yeah, let's go."

They followed the waitress to a table for two where the volume level was quieter and tables were mostly spaced out more. This was the place for reservations, which he had done just a couple of hours ago.

"I'll get your server. In the meantime, can I interest you in any drinks?"

"We'll have a bottle." It was a very expansive and expensive wine list on one page of the menu. He showed it to her, "Zinfandel."

When the waitress left, Marcus looked over at his date. Gabrielle saw him staring at her and in response, propped up the menu to avoid her flustered face. It was probably the low cut strapless dress that had caught his attention.

Thankfully, a waiter had brought the wine, having taken over the waitress' job that had retreated to the front to assist other patrons. He was thin and in a typical white and black suit.

Austal shook his head when the wine was popped and attempted to be poured. He smiled and produced a small datapad, the glow reflecting off of his white face. "Are you two ready to order?"

"I'm ready." He said. Gabrielle nodded.

"Okay, madam what will you be having?"

She looked at the menu, "The sautéed chicken and pasta."

"Certainly, and for you?" He looked over at Marcus.

"I'll take the Sturgeon steak over the rice pilaf."

"Of course." The waiter typed in their orders and walked away. A silence descended over both of them until the Spartan took the bottle of wine and uncorked it. He took both their chalices and poured a generous portion of both.

"I'm off work now," He joked as he handed one glass over, "Alcohol is very strict there."

"Marcus, what do you do for work?"

"I work for a reconnaissance group that scouts out special forces team raids and observe operations."

She found the wine to be very good and appealing to her palate, Marcus sure had an interesting taste when it came to poison.

"So you're in the military?"

"The group is not part of the military, but a civilian contractor that works with them."

"Oh. I see." She looked over, swirling the wine in her glass. "Do you enjoy it?"

Not only was his fake story impressing her so far, he had winged the lie and found out everything was going better than what he hoped. It wasn't exactly right for everyone to know about the secretive 37th unit. Sure, you could see them, but it was rare anyone knew who was in or not. It definitely wasn't easy to get into the unit, that's for sure.

He thought about the revelation however. This woman was someone he thought about often and if he wanted to pursue an actual relationship with her, the truth was going to have to come out. It all went down to how she would take it.

"So you've heard all about my work, what about yours?"

"My work?" She giggled, "Westbrook photography can be boring sometimes, but I really love creating happy memories that last a lifetime, not just for myself, but for other people too. From graduation ceremonies, weddings and other things, I just really like being a part of it. I hope that I can get a promotion soon."

"What do you mean?"

"Westbrook also acts a bit like the media, you see, sometimes we will have a photographer or recorder go with some interesting finds to jot down documentaries on the holonet and broadcasted on Waypoint. Several of our best photographers end up in very dangerous zones."

She seemed so afraid of danger, "Aren't you afraid of that kinds of things?"

"I need the money though. Yes, I'm afraid something won't work out or I can't do what's expected of me. I'm always worried that I will end up enduring the worst imaginable."

"Gabrielle," Marcus extended his hand over to hers, "You're a very beautiful and strong woman. I see it in you. I've made mistakes before and I still suffer from them today."

"What do you mean?"

"I used to date this girl back in my youthful days growing up in Sin City."

"Sin City?"

"Las Vegas." He explained, "I was born in Cravate, but we moved to the URNA about a year later. This girl, Tessa is her name. I was back then this great guy in senior high school, chasing girls all around. It was a fairly good life and I was expected by my parents to go to some rich university and study something and earn a high paying job. Of course find this girl that was perfect in their eyes and have a group of children for them to babysit."

"You have an interesting story." Gabrielle said, equally intrigued. This time, there was nothing to hide.

"Absolutely, I was friends with everyone. Even the more shy kids at school. Tessa was my girl I took to the prom. We had been nominated for dance royalty when I found out that she had been cheating on me. For three months."

"You're kidding!" She gasped.

"Think I made this up?" He grinned, "When I found out, she accused me of being nosy in her private affairs. Really, I just happened to notice it by accident right after the dance at the afterprom party. Right then and there, she left me. In front of everyone." He let out a sigh, sipping his wine thoughtfully, "Didn't matter much, since we didn't win our nomination before I found out. I still blame myself for it."

"But why?" She asked, "Marcus, she left you. It isn't your fault."

"I know." He softly said, "I'm blaming myself for being too blind to it. Maybe there were not any obvious signs, but I wish something could have changed so we could avoid that. Honestly, I believe that she did it so that it would come off in the school's yearbooks as the biggest shocker to hit a school dance and all that media hysteria. I would rather not be nominated as royalty and have a good relation with the right person rather than be prom king and end up falling out."

"I'm sorry." She whispered before clasping his hand.

He squeezed it, but the next words were about to leave his mouth when the waiter approached with the two plates laden with delicious food.

"Don't be. It's made me a stronger person and I've vowed never to make the same mistake twice."

They ate for a few minutes in silence before Gabrielle spoke up wanting to change the subject to a more pleasant one, "Madeline talks a lot about you."

"She does?"

"Absolutely. I have no doubt that she would ask you out on a date if you didn't ask me first."

Marcus scoffed, "Well I guess I was right on time huh? I like her sure, but I certainly wouldn't date her."

"Good thing she's not here." Gabrielle couldn't suppress a mischievous grin. Neither of them had drunk their first full glass of wine yet, but he was already spilling out something that he'd only keep to himself. Besides, he was driving so alcohol consumption had to be minimized anyway.

"It is. I'm not one to prefer blondes anyway."

After they finished dessert, a delightful light lemon tart, the waiter sealed up the bottle and put the bill on the table. As Austal spoke to the waiter about something, Gabrielle moved to her purse to find her credit chip. Before she even realized it, Marcus had halted his conversation and took it so fast, she almost didn't see it. He certainly had quick reflexes and movements.

"I pay first date." He said with a smirk on his face.

Gabrielle couldn't complain about that.

* * *

The two of them drifted out towards the car and he drove into downtown New Alexandria. He parked in a massive parking lot where other people, just as elegantly dressed were egressing towards the large building. The theatre doubled as a sports arena for the New Alexandria Spartans, the Colonial Gravball League's only team based on Reach named for the Spartans, proud defenders of humanity.

The next game wasn't for another week against the Dragons and half of the entire stadium had been refitted with softer seats for a massive stage that extended the entire width of the playing ground. Low bass music was being played by an orchestra hidden from sight and the crimson curtains were drawn.

"Welcome to The Inferno." The security attendant greeted the couple. He was a larger dark-skinned man, having a bulging waistline, but his arms and shoulders still looked fit. "Are we buying tickets or reservations?"

"Reservation for two. Name Austal."

He scrolled through the multiple reservations on the list and his face brightened when he had found it. "Marcus Austal, tickets for two. I got it." He handed him two strips of paper with information and waved them through the security line. "You and your lovely date enjoy the show."

Austal thanked him and took Gabrielle's hand to wade through the crowd to their seats. They were in the middle, but spaced out a little bit from the other viewers. Another ten minutes and the show began to start.

The Inferno was basically a romanticized version of Inferno, the famous literary work of Divine Comedy. Superficially, it portrayed poet Dante Alighieri on his journey through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, although this particular play was only for the Inferno section. In a deeper perspective, it described a journey of the soul, rejecting the temptations of sinfulness.

Normally, if it were a younger time, he would have settled for a movie that both of them would have enjoyed, but he thought that a play that was considered a longtime classic would fit a first date. This one even brought a cirque du Soleil with several men and women also playing main and support characters performing epic stunts.

The actors were incredible along with dazzling displays of stunts that always amazed the crowd. Gabrielle found herself leaning to her left, where Marcus was calmly enjoying the show himself.

"I could do that." He muttered when it came to an incredible display of four men jumping on ropes thirty feet above the stage floor. At the bottom were flickering orange flames.

The crowd burst into applause yet again when the stuntmen then performed an amazing pose all held up each with one hand on the rope and the other outstretched as a presentation to the Dante character. The scene suddenly changed to a bluish ground where ice lighting spread quickly, dousing the flames and on top of the frozen layer was a six-winged Satan, trapped in the ice during the ninth circle.

Marcus looked over to his date, who had wrapped her arm around his and her mouth was opened in an undefined expression. He took her close for the remainder of the play, breaking when the crowd finally applauded and the actors came to present themselves.

* * *

They drove home in silence, much of their thoughts on the other person and what had happened. A connection had been established and much of it felt a lot more than just a simple friendship.

"I had a wonderful time." She said as they made their way up to the apartment doors. "What about you?"

Marcus smiled as he was unlocking his own apartment's door, "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? To me it seemed like you were really enjoying yourself."

He shook his head, and then sucked in for the kill, "It was bad, so I would like to ask for a second one."

Gabrielle's pupils dilated and her smile grew even bigger, "Of course!" Before he could react, he felt her arms circle around him with her trying to squeeze him until he popped, luckily for him, it wasn't even close.

"You know." He heard her say, "It's been a long time since I have been this happy."

"I know." Replying, he stepped into the door, "Have a good night."

"You too." They closed the doors, retiring for the day and thinking back to the many intimate moments they had shared.

Ten minutes later, Marcus had settled into his bed and closed his eyes, his lips curled into a smile. "Neither have I."

* * *

**I think I did pretty good for a date scene, ever since I've never really wrote one this complex before.**

**As such, Venomous Honor comes to a close. The second novel will be up in the near future, possibly close to when Dark Vein is finished. A few new things I will confirm as of now:**

**Of course there are new characters! Most of Eon will return to reprise their roles although at least one new member will be appearing. I don't know if he/she will be sticking with them the entire time. ****Secondly, I'm putting a character from the Blades series in!**

**Now with high expectations and standards for myself, I will begin feeding chapters out for the second 37th story soon! If you like this story, please check out my Blades series. The current story, Dark Vein is currently underway.**

**Lastly, thank you all for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.**


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